Kitten's Hope
by Lerris
Summary: [Complete] What if Akane really wasn't cured from the Xi Fa Xiang Gao Shiatsu? What if only Neko Ranma could see the truth?
1. Prologue

Kitten's Hope 

Chapter 1 -- Prologue 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. This piece of work is purely for enjoyment purposes. No copyright infringement is intended. RxA matchup likely. OOC likely.

* * *

Akane was so tired. It seemed that the meaning of life had slowly drained out of her world leaving only a shell going through the motions as if some poorly made manikin. She could feel each one of the strings attached to her body. Her honor. Her family. Her friends. Her enemies. It had been like this ever since Shampoo had messed with her memories and Ranma had made it so so very much worse by trying to fix it without knowing how. The baka actually thought she was cured, but instead the core of herself was sealed away able to observe, but never to change the automatons programming that her body had become. It was Genma's fault of course. Well not really, but Ranma really didn't know much about girls and his attempts to cure her were partially what shaped the pseudo personally that walked around and called herself Akane Tendo. Oh to be fair no one really noticed, since in a way she had been trapped in her own shell that was very similar outwardly for such a long time, particularly since the hentai horde began. Now the shell had taken a life of its own, with touches of how Ranma thought she truly was, and she was but a passenger in her own mind. At least that was the best explanation she had been able to come up with over the months. She tried to hammer at it, to break the walls that held her true self captive. Unfortunately, the shell was made of magic and bits and pieces of her own essence -- particularly her anger and paranoia. In the beginning she made a little progress, but over time the loss of hope weakened her and the chances of freedom seemed to dwindle to dust. 

She came to call the her that was not truly her Enaka. It seemed fitting to give something that was a perversion of her true self her own name spelled backwards. Unfortunately in naming it a small amount of acceptance seemed to creep through. Acceptance that things were not going to change. That she would live her life as a passive observer in her own body. Their were times when a ray of light shown dimly into her prison. They were the times when against all odds Ranma would see her true smile leaking through the shell that was Enaka. He would see it and somehow she could feel the warmth from him. Those moments were so rare and precious that she tried to savor every one of them. 

It was strange, that Ranma's cat persona seemed to be somehow able to see the real her. She treasured Neko-Ranma in some ways more than the real one since Neko Ranma could sense the true her and was happy to be in her presence. In a strange sort of way Neko's caring brought her real self just a little closer to the surface. It never lasted though. Some fiancee, crazed fiancee stalker, sick pig, sister, parent, amazon or pervert would interrupt. The list seemed almost endless some days, but the results were little different. As if a reset button was pressed, she would punish Ranma for her 'just' reason and punt him into orbit, the fiancees would fight each other. Flavor with old overused insults, and spice with blackmail.

* * *

"Oh P-chan. I'm so glad to see you. Look your so wet. Come with me and I'll dry you off then you can get under the covers with me and we can get some sleep." 

P-chan "Bweed" in agreement and soon he was nestled above her breasts. A thin nightgown separating him from her and a cover keeping them both warm. 

Akane tried. She tried very hard to ignore the revulsion she felt at being used like this. The feeling of being helpless combined with this at first it sickened her spirit to such a point that all that was truly Akane almost vanished. She couldn't recall much of the first couple of months after the pig started sleeping with her. Eventually she managed to crawl out of her own hole with that legendary Tendo stubbornness. It was amazing how helpful pure thoughts of revenge were in giving her an anchor. She wanted to strangle the little chunk of bacon. She wanted to force him to eat Enaka's cooking until he died. She sometimes spent hours thinking up punishments. It kept her sane in a twisted sort of way. Oh intellectually she knew that Ryoga was helpful at times and not actually truly evil. That didn't stop her from planning though. Planning was one of the few things she could do. It helped keep her sane.

* * *

She thought once again of her family. She could almost understand Kasumi's obliviousness. Actually she could easily understand it. It was after all just another version of what she herself was trapped in. The choice of how to respond seemed the only difference. Was Nabiki the same way? Did her desire to protect herself after mother's death by being in control take a life of its own too? Perhaps Shampoo was involved too. In a way she hoped not, since at least before she wasn't aware she was trapped. Sometimes being unaware was so much better than being aware. Still she would not chose to become that way again.. at least most of the time. 

Ranma was the enigma. In many ways he acted clueless as well. It seemed that tiny pieces of him were missing. The parts that truly understood how to relate to emotions -- to truly understand people. She thought some of it was explained by his upbringing, but didn't think that could explain all of it. It was during one of Ranma's cat times when she realized what was missing. The normal Ranma was missing the playfulness and sensitivity of a kitty cat. It was certainly a strange theory, but it would explain much if the Nekoken had a more long term effect than they thought. Of course she had little to base her theory on, but for some reason she was fairly certain she was right.

* * *

Being a disembodied mind certainly allowed one time to think. It was all she could do. She regretted that the marriage ceremony was bombed. Oh she wasn't truly sure she loved Ranma. How could one truly know without interacting with him? She admired him though. How could one not? His indomitable spirit. His skill in the art. His honor. Well ok his honor got old some days. She doubted that even a direct confrontation that P-chan was Ryoga would have convinced Enaka, but she really wished he would not have put his honor before hers. She didn't actually know about the promise, but she suspected something like it was the reason he didn't just come out and tell her. She thought that Ranma must suspect her of knowing about P-chan and pretending otherwise. Her life stank some days. Actually her life stank most days. She mused that at least Kasumi kept tricking Enaka into walking in on Ranma in the furo. It wasn't much of a high point for her life, but it was well nice to see him. She just wished it didn't have to end with a mallet. 

Of course seeing him like that made her yearn even more to be free. It wasn't as if she planned anything hentai or anything like that. Well at least not for a year or so, but she definitely wanted to personally get to know her fiancee. She was sure there was so much more to him that what she saw through Enaka's eyes and she yearned to find out more. Unfortunately the walls you build yourself are sometimes the hardest to knock down... Especially if the walls are reinforced and laced with chinese magic applied by two different people-- one who had no idea what he was doing and one who really didn't care that much and just wanted to appear compassionate lest Ranma dislike her. 

It took her almost a full year of work, but she had figured out how to influence Enaka. She only seemed to have the strength to make a meaningful influence about once a month, and those almost always ended with Ranma getting defensive and the mallet cycle repeating. She really really hated that mallet. It symbolized too many bad things. 

Time passed, the wedding came and went, or perhaps one could better say the wedding came and fled the smell of gunpowder,okonomiyaki, and ramen. She had begun to truly despair. Still she desperately hoped Ranma would stay with her. Ryoga continued to disgust her. The perverted pig actually fell in love with that that... thing that was but a mere shadow of her darker self. How pathetic could someone be? She could tell Ranma's confusing feelings were at least based on the truth. The few times she saw true caring in his eyes were those few, infrequent times when a bit of her true self shown through. How could she not care for the idiot? He was the only one who truly saw her anymore it seemed, even if only in glimpses.

* * *

Ranma looked back and considered his time with the Tendo's. So much had happened, and only a little of it was good. Any sane person would have simply given up and left long ago. Perhaps even written off people altogether. He could do it, he knew. Of course, in all the chaos he could see those oh so brief moments where people truly showed nobility. He lived for those moments. 

The moments when Akane would give a true smile, or when Nabiki would charge him for her help almost in afterthought, or when Kasumi would smile after seeing him clean the yard. Kasumi's true smiles were almost as rare as Akane's. He treasured them all. Even Nabiki's in her rare unguarded moments. All in all, despite all the bad points, he had a family and it wasn't something he was willing to give up easily. 

The other fiancees had their moments. The brief moments when Ucchan would stop thinking about the stupid engagement and be a friend. The times when they all worked together and Shampoo would act as a fellow friend and warrior and forget just for a moment to act so needy and airheaded. Heck even the old letch had his moments. Ok you could count them on a single hand, but he had them. They mostly consisted of his true desire to have an heir that became greater than him at the art. Actually he thought about this a lot, but it was only a few times when he didn't also combine it with wanting a true disciple in the perverted arts that reduced the total number of noble moments to so few. 

Ranma thought Mr. Tendo was noble in a pathetic sort of way. For that matter so was the panda. They simply did not let reality compete with their own view of the universe. In so doing they could be cruel. His mother was little different. She just had her own universe that was separate from Mr. Tendo and the panda. Then again he was hardly much better. He often knew just seconds after saying something how stupid it was, yet he always said it. It was actually something he had tried to fix about himself with almost no success.

* * *

Time passed the wedding came and went. He had wanted it, until finding out that apparently the only reason she had agreed was out of pity so he could have the cure for his curse. After that he was kind of glad the wedding was ruined. A part of him also was glad that the spring of drowned man water was drunk by Happosai. Some tiny voice seemed to say to him that he would never be complete if he was cured then.

* * *

The special moments seemed to come less and less, or perhaps they no longer offset the negatives in his life. He needed something to change. Some solution to appear for him to grasp onto. It seemed anytime the status quo was in danger of changing it got beaten back by force, and a good deal of that force involved Ranma getting the crap beat out of him.

* * *

Akane had gotten better. She was still limited to forcing one significant action, but shortly after the crashed wedding she had somehow figured out that the action could affect others rather than her almost robotic self. Her few attempts were always with Ranma. From What little she could tell it was much easier to get someone to do something some part of themselves wanted to do anyway, or at least didn't actively oppose. It was significantly harder, but in some ways more effective since the mind she tried to compel usually didn't reject what she was doing. She still remembered her nearly pointless test where she had imprinted the command, "Don't insult Akane." In truth it was the wrong thing to do since it seemed to lead to a spiral which got Ranma even more depressed as her robotic shell kept bashing him for little or no reason even when he didn't insult her for days on end. She really regretted that, and hoped one day to make it up to him. 

Unfortunately she only had one idea. One hope to save herself, and hopefully Ranma as well, but the risk was insane. Then again perhaps she was a little crazy by now too, or at the very least desperate. Regardless, being a passive observer in your own body for a year and a half certainly isn't conducive to ones mental health. The plan was ultimately simple. She just had to wait until the next time he was in the nekoken and touched her.

* * *

It was the fourth month since the failed wedding. Things between her pseudo personality Enaka and Ranma had hit an all time low. The fiancees had seemingly gotten even more desperate. In the past month alone Ranma had been subjected to a magical potion from Shampoo and a chemical one from Kodachi. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately they were given within hours of each other.

* * *

Ranma was running out of energy. Cold rain ran down her shirt, making her silk shirt cling in ways that Ranma was in no shape to even notice. Indeed she could barely think at all. Had she been thinking rationally she might have been grateful that both attempts at coercion occurred at the same time, since they negated each other to an extent. Well in truth Ranma was simply unable to think at all, which if she had been thinking rationally was still better than the alternative of going back to either Shampoo or Kodachi and making one or both of the young women very happy. 

Ranma valued his personal honor more than almost anything in his world. The only things he ever let influence him in manners of honor were his love of his mother and his feelings for Akane. Held only slightly less important than his personal honor was his desire to never lose when it mattered. The idea of letting herself be used as a result of an outside coercion, or worse betraying Akane was just anathema to him. This and his phenomenal stubbornness were partially why he had never succumb in the past to all the methods of coercion used on him. Unfortunately the compounds circulating in her blood now were far too strong to allow anything resembling human to win, even each other. 

Ranma had ran out of energy a few blocks back and she had sought shelter from the pouring rain in what turned out to be the alley behind the Nekohaten. It was the last place she would have come had she been thinking, but higher thoughts were beyond Ranma right now. Shampoo saw her when she had reluctantly come out wearing a raincoat to set the trash out for the evening. She ran for her forgetting the rain, and of course becoming a small white and purple cat that continued to jump right into the soggy neo girl's chest. 

It was all too much for Ranma. Had she been able to think she might have sought to run or flee, but that ability was beyond her now. Indeed being so close to one of those she was magically compelled to be with froze her muscles even more. The nekoken was a primal creation though. It came easily and took control. Indeed there was nothing to get in its way since the chemicals and magic had suppressed the rest of Ranma's normal will and personality through their interaction. 

Neko Ranma threw Shampoo away from her and ran off towards the Tendo's. Perhaps the kind one would give her some food. 

Arriving at the Tendo's she saw the food provider sweeping the kitchen and rubbed up against her leg. 

"Ara. Ranma-chan. You want something to eat? Oh thats a good kitty." She got out some tuna fish she had mixed with mayonnaise earlier and spread it on some bread. "Here ya go." 

Ranma-chan had consumed several sandwiches by the time Akane came through the door causing neko Ranma to notice her and pounce. Shortly afterwards Akane was sitting down and acting as a lap for neko Ranma-chan. 

Now Akane's pseudo personality knew how to treat kitties, so she starting running her fingers through his hair and trying to make the kitty happy. The real Akane took this time and pounced. She had waited almost four months for this opportunity. Using all the will and energy she had saved, she forced into Ranma's brain the need to stay in the Nekoken until he could make the Nekoken a part of himself. The other thought she managed to impress into his mind was to free Akane. These things weren't in words, but he or rather she at the moment would obey them. For some reason it seemed to take hold much better than Akane would have guessed, but she did not know about the incidents involving Kodachi and Shampoo earlier. 

Akane prayed Ranma was strong enough to do it and that he could someday come to forgive her. She didn't think she could ever forgive herself. It was her only hope and she damned herself for doing it. She hadn't thought of the potential for him to be trapped permanently in the Nekoken, but for some reason that seemed to be a real possibility now. Her true mental self collapsed from exhaustion, as the fake Akane continued to pet the cat. 


	2. Change

Chapter 1 -- Change 

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimer.

* * *

A young redhead awoke to a bucket of water. 

"Get up boy. Its time for training." 

Neko was annoyed and wet. She swatted the bucket back at the annoying one and then tried to shake the water from her fur but it didn't seem to work right. 

She dodged the annoying one's attempt at a punch and proceeded to sniff the air. 

Genma's highly trained self preservation instinct recognized the nekoken and decided training could wait. Ranma may have exceeded him in almost every way as a martial artist, but Genma's self preservation instinct was unmatched. 

Neko smelled something good. She proceeded to walk on all fours into the living room and then jumped up on the table and began to eat the food Kasumi had just set down just like a cat. 

Nabiki walked in. "Uh oh.. He's still a cat." 

"Oh my." 

Soun looked in, toothbrush still in hand. "Now the houses will never be joined." Some toothpaste fell on his nightshirt. 

Enaka walked in, still sweaty from her morning job. "What did the baka do now?" 

Genma who had just finished drying off and incidently avoiding his nekofied son tried to steal, err get some breakfast. Neko hissed at him and swatted him out to the koi pond, incidently slicing three strips out of his gi. This just goes to show that his gluttony may exceed his self preservation instincts. 

Nabiki asked, "Ok, where did he manage to run into another cat?" 

Genma, in panda form, stumbled back in dripping water all over the floor. After a moment he raised a sign saying, "Um he didn't. He just woke up like that." Genma was really getting worried. If Nodoka found her son like this, he could be killed. The he that Genma was thinking about was of course himself. 

Soun said, "Perhaps we should call Doctor Tofu." 

"I'll do it." said the cheery voice of Kasumi. 

The middle Tendo spoke up. "Let me sis. I'm closer to the phone. Perhaps you should go to the market and get some fresh fish." 

"Oh ok." 

Dr. Tofu arrived about ten minutes after Nabiki called. He examined Neko Ranma as best he could without waking her up from her nap in the sun. 

"Well her aura shows signs of some kind of chemical or perhaps magical compulsion, but that is fading now and shouldn't really be affecting him anymore, at least not to this extent. No what is strange is the areas that control conscious thought and intellect. Very little is showing there. It is as if he is stuck in his Neko state. I really have no idea how to treat this. The best I can suggest for now is to treat him like the cat he thinks he is and hope it wears off." 

"Thanks doc." commented Nabiki. 

"Stupid baka. What have you gotten yourself involved in now?" 

"Now the houses will never be joined." 

"Growf"

* * *

A dim shadow moved in the corner of the Tendo home and swept out into the street slowly fading back into a tall chinese boy wrapped in dark robes. Mouse really hated using this technique. It was dangerous. If Cologne ever learned that he knew a technique this useful and moreover had promised never to teach it to an amazon woman he would be in for some real pain. What was worse, is while it used much of the same training as hidden weapons did, it was impossible to hide any weapons while using it, well other than the ordinary ways. Only a single pair of swords just did not seem enough. Still for all his dislike of the technique, it was truly amazing. Hidden weapons worked by using ones chi to fold the space around weapons or other items, effectively reducing what he had to carry to a handle, or the opening of a bag. This technique folded the space around himself. It was much harder to accomplish in practice since the space folding had to change continuously as you walked, and the skill itself made it impossible to see where you were going unless you left your head exposed. Of course in his own case his vision was so poor that suddenly not being able to see, was no great loss. His ki sight was enough and far better than anyone except his master knew. 

He pondered what to do about Saotome's new condition. It was important that Shampoo and Cologne not find out. After all they only really wanted Ranma for breeding stock, and its quite possible Cologne might come up with a way to control the cat, at least well enough to serve her purpose. Besides despite outside appearances, he liked Ranma and really didn't want to see him broken to Amazon standards. It was ironic that only by acting the fool had Mouse gained as much freedom as he had. He just wished Shampoo would grow up. Acting the fool really got old, but the only way to stay close to her was to be the fool, well either that or to beat her in a formal challenge. The second would be simple enough, but going back to take his place as a proper Amazon male, just wasn't in his plans. 

He dimly noted Akane passing where he was hiding in his pocket of folded space up in a tree. He briefly wondered where she was going, but then realized it didn't matter. It was enough that she was gone. Oh well it was time to get caught.

* * *

Akane was seriously beginning to wonder about her plan. Sure Ranma could sort of sense the real her like this, but he had the mind of a cat right now. Still she was desperate. Now she was desperate, weak, and feeling very guilty. What if he never came out of it? Then he would be stuck in the same state as she was.

* * *

Mouse moved near the entrance to the Tendo home and waited patiently from hiding. Sure enough in a few minutes Nabiki came out and started heading for the gates. After making sure no one would see him appear, he appeared and glomped onto Nabiki from behind. 

"Shampoo! My Love." 

"You stupid fool. What the heck are you doing here? Did you decide to finish off Ranma while you had the chance?" 

Their were times Mouse enjoyed his role a bit too much. What was really creepy is Happosai knew and only grinned at him a time or two. "Your not Shampoo. Shampoo where are you? I have to find her and keep her away from Ranma. Once Cologne finds out.." 

"Finds out what Mousse?" 

"Nothing.." 

"If you don't want Shampoo to find out that you just felt me up, you'd better start talking." 

"Ah, um... well you see the magic Shampoo used on Ranma seems to have not worked correctly. I think Kodachi may have got to him too somehow, so maybe that explains it. At any rate since their is no cure and he's stuck in the nekoken with the mind of a cat.." 

"Continue.." 

"Cologne let Ranma think that the Nekoken was a trump card, but in reality it is an insane weakness since its incredibly easy to control the mind of a cat unlike a human that will actively resist such controls. Its not as if he needs to think to serve her goals.." 

"Your not as stupid as you let on, are you?" 

Mouse sweated. He had gotten so focused on leading her down a path he had forgot to act the idiot. "I don't know what your talking about." 

"Don't worry Mousse. You just go get what I want and I'll forget to mention to Cologne that you have been deceiving her. Just go get me..." 

Mousse smirked inwardly. While it was true that having Cologne find out would be bad, Nabiki was buying it all. He mentally reviewed the things she wanted. They would be easy enough to obtain. "Sure I'll have it here in a couple hours." 

"You do that. I'll be waiting."

* * *

Nabiki went to her room and called Dr. Tofu on her cell phone. "Dr. Tofu?" 

"Yes, has anything happened to Ranma?" 

"No, Ranma is still the same except that when Kasumi cleaned her face up a bit with a warm wet towel he changed back but continued purring softly. He never even woke up." 

"Then why are you calling?" 

"Doc, will Ranma come out of it? He's allready been it for far longer than before and Mousse said that the stuff they used had no cure." 

"I don't know Nabiki. I can't explain it, although I thought the drugs and magic had mostly faded. I just don't know. Somehow I doubt it will be anytime soon." 

"Thanks Doc. Let me know if you come up with anything. If anyone asks make sure you don't know where Ranma is. Mousse seems to think that Cologne could easily have Neko as a part of the Amazon breeding program." 

"Given that he has the mind of a cat now, I should think it would be easy." 

"See ya doc. I need to go do what I can." 

"Ok, well let me know if anything changes." 

Nabiki pondered her plan. She was fairly sure Ranma would never forgive her. Fighting the Amazon's directly was out of the question though. Ryoga was too stupid and Genma was too big a coward. He would most likely give them Ranma if it meant his own skin. I will protect my family and like it or not Ranma was a part of it now. She just wished she was certain her plan was a good idea. Sure it kept Ranma out of the Amazon's hands, but at the same time it was hardly likely to help his sanity. She noted that everyone but Ranma had left. He was curled up in the sun with a smile on his face. She briefly regretted pushing him off on her little sister. Mouse was due back.. Ah there he was.

* * *

At dinner that evening Nabiki came down with a large male black cat stretched across her shoulders. She walked into.. 

"is that boy now? How could I be cursed with such a disloyal son?" 

"Waaaaah My daughters fiance has gone off to marry a cat." 

"When I get my hands on that baka." 

"Ara, Nabiki what a cute kitty. Oh my if Ranma-kun sees.." 

"I know Kasumi. Its just that a friend of mine had to get rid of her cat and I couldn't let her take him to the pound. I'll look for him a new home tomorrow." 

"He's cute Nabiki. If it wasn't for that pervert, we could keep him." Akane began petting the cat who had jumped down to eat some food from the table. 

Nabiki asked, "So where is Ranma?"

* * *


	3. The Next Day

Chapter 3 -- The Next Day 

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimer. 

Note: I would like to thank Koala Kitty for prereading my last chapter. The mistakes are still mine of course.

* * *

Enaka was curled up and sleeping on her side. All in all she presented the picture of cuteness. She woke slowly stretched and yawned. Something was odd. Everything seemed peaceful enough. It hit her then. Ranma must still be gone. Well good riddance. He was nothing but a pain anyway. To think they wanted to make her marry the perverted idiot. Boys, the world would be better off without them. 

Breakfast was served to the group. Genma was in human form which seemed the exception rather than the rule lately. 

"Has anyone seen Ranma-kun? His breakfast will get cold." Genma's father had already stolen half of the food off the plate set out for Ranma. 

"Maybe the perverted bastard will stay gone." 

"Akane.." 

"Now the houses will never be joined." wailed Soun. 

Genma dodged the stream of tears since he didn't want to change. "Oh, how the gods must hate me to curse me with such an honorless son." 

Nabiki grimaced inwardly. She considered speaking to defend Ranma, as she had quite often in the past. The bottom line is it would just make things worse. She held a certain amount of power over the others because they believed she did not care along with the assorted blackmail material she had on them all. Then again, it never hurt to put the panda in his place. Nabiki rolled her eyes. "You know your right. In fact I hear the police in Nekomi still have warrants for his arrest for running out on a bar bill ten years ago." She continued to pet the kitty cat that was purring in her lap in an effort to find her center lest her mask slip. 

Genma sweated slightly. He had forgot about those. Well at least they weren't looking for him. 

"Serves the idiot right if he rots in jail." 

Soun turned to his middle daughter. If anyone knew where he was, it would be her. The only problem was it would be expensive. "Have you seen him Nabiki?" 

"5,000 yen." 

Soun sighed and handed over the money. "None of my contacts has seen him." Nabiki pondered the truth of what she had said. She had checked with her contacts and they hadn't seen him. 

Soun tried to take the money back. "Sorry, no refunds. You should have known by the price that I didn't have anything important to tell." 

"Well I hope Ranma-kun comes home soon. Oh you still have the cute kitty." 

"Ya, I have asked around, but so far no one can keep him. It looks like I'm stuck with him for now."

* * *

Lunch began with a bang as the Amazon glomp machine announced her presence by exploding the wall in front of where Kuno was walking and then walking up on the pile of rubble covering Kuno's unconscious body. "Where Airen?" 

"You tell me, you stupid bimbo. He hasn't been seen since yesterday. He's probably running lose somewhere still thinking he's a cat thanks to you." 

"Shampoo no understand. Magic used no have that affect." 

"So your the one responsible for hurting my Ranchan." She swung her battle spatula at the Amazon beauty. Shampoo easily dodged the awkward weapon. Enaka was torn between being angry at Shampoo and the Amazons and glad that the perverted bastard was gone. Not one to think too much in a given situation she decided to mallet the bimbo and think later. 

After almost a half an hour Shampoo dusted off her hands and stepped over her fallen foes... 

"Stupid people try to beat Amazon warrior get hurt." 

A couple of groans filled the room, along with a shattered mallet, and a spatula with a bombori shaped hole in it. A careful observer might have noticed an odd gleam in Kuno's eye as he slowly recovered consciousness and watched the purple haired one crush her foes. The gleam faded before anyone could notice it though, although Ukyo did appreciate Kuno's abilities as a landing mat. 

"Shampoo must go tell great grandmother." With a bright smile she said, "We finish later?" 

Nabiki pondered attempting to get the Amazon's deported. No Shampoo could have really hurt them if she wanted to. Sure she would do pretty much anything to get Ranma for the tribe. Her laws said as much, but as long as those two lost, they were in no great danger from the Amazon. Besides if she managed to get them deported it would only make Cologne more suspicious and that was something she had to avoid at all costs. She shivered briefly. That old woman was a match for herself in guile and trickery. Who was she kidding, she very much feared she was the better. The real question was why she allowed her granddaughter to screw up so much. She had to be careful. She had no wish for anyone to find them to declare her an obstacle.

* * *

The rest of the school day passed uneventfully. Nabiki made sure to get to Dr. Tofu's far ahead of the arrival of Akane and Ukyo. She really didn't like the idea of expanding who knew the secret, but she needed his help unless she wanted a pet for life. 

"I can't say I really agree with your plan, but I don't see any alternatives either. Not with the Amazons goal anyway. You are right to fear them. Ranma might be able to come close to beating either Cologne or Happosai in a pure fight, but if the fight mattered I have little doubt who the winner would be. At any rate, you should treat him as human as possible, at least when your alone. Talk to him, try to get some kind of human reaction from him. If possible you should let him change back as much as possible.." 

"I can't doc. At least not until I manage to get some more of the instant spring of drowned cat. I have enough soap for months given how small he is now, but no more of the others." 

"Just try to treat him as a human as much as possible. Maybe I'll come up with something. What about his Chi claws? Has that been a problem?" 

"I haven't seen them since he changed." 

"Well let me know if anything turns up. Even that size, remember that he's potentially very dangerous." 

"Thanks doc." She glanced out the window. In a sarcastic tone, "Well I see the martial artist of the family and fiancee #2 so I'd better get going." 

Dr. Tofu turned toward the window. When he turned back Nabiki simply wasn't there.

* * *

"What happened to you two?" 

"It's all my baka fiancee's fault. I hope he stays gone and takes his fiancees with him." My was said in a possessive tone, as if she was referring to her shoes. 

Ukyo frowned at her. Just what was wrong with that girl? Why did she get into the fight if she didn't care? It made no sense. She wanted to go out and look for Ranma, yet she couldn't leave her restaurant for that long, that is if she wanted it to still be hers when she returned. The only reason she got the loan in the first place was her father, and she couldn't afford to miss a payment.

* * *

Night had fallen and Nabiki had put a litter box in the corner of her room. Neko had already used it once. There was also an extra heavy duty scratching post that had yet to be used. It actually had a lifetime warranty. She was fairly sure that the manufacturer was going to regret that warranty before long. Nabiki had dressed in her pajamas with Yen signs. She was glad that the last time the walls had been destroyed she had the builders sound proof her roof. She sat alone on her bed in the dark and silently wept. A black cat wallked over and rubbed up against her stomach. The cat butted his head against her as if in saying, "pet me." 

Nabiki held the cat to her and began to pet. "Oh Ranma, please come back to us. We need you." 

Before long both were asleep with Neko's head resting gently on Nabiki's pajama covered chest with her hands unconsciously holding him to her.

* * *

Ranma looked around and saw nothing but shifting colors and sounds, but nothing definite or distinct. It had seemed so lonely here, wherever here was, but for some reason things seemed to be better now.. Warmer.. He yawned and went back to sleep himself. He was still so tired, and he had no idea why. Of course some might say he had yet to fully wakeup since the change, but then this is nothing new for Ranma. Indeed for him to wake for anything other than hunger, water, or a major physical attack was quite rare for him. While he didn't realise he was held in the middle Tendo's arms, he did know it felt nice and for a change he wanted to savor it. In short the core that was Ranma was enjoying what he would call a holiday.

* * *

Akane had saw the cat through Enaka's eyes, and wondered. For some reason she was certain it was Ranma although she could barely remember what she sensed when Enaka petted him earlier. What she didn't know was how. Perhaps the Nekoken made him revert into that form, or perhaps her sister. Yes he was her sister's cat. The question was why if so? She hoped that Enaka would pet the cat again sometime soon. She had to know, and somehow that seemed the only chance. 

Still she was so tired yet there was hope. Hope that Ranma was still around. Hope that he could do what she had failed at. Hope that Ranma would recover and forgive her for what she had done. Hope that she could somehow get free.

* * *

Cologne pondered the days events. It seemed that son in law had run off, but for some reason she was sure he was nearby. Ranma tended to disturb the weave of the pattern whenever he stayed in one place for long enough and she could still faintly sense that disturbance. Even now she wondered how he had gotten that way. Jusenkyo induced such effects but on a much smaller scale. Odd things happened to Ranma way to often to be explained by Jusenkyo alone. She suspected it was some foolishness of his father or perhaps even Happosai.

* * *

It had rained just for a few seconds as Ryoga stumbled once again upon the home of his hated enemy and his true love. Ryoga, "bweeed" and went off in search of Akane's room. He was sure it was in here somewhere. It took him a few hours, and for some strange reason he passed Akane's room several times in his search. There a door thats partly open. 

Nabiki had just fumbled back into her room after a late night trip to the bathroom incidently failing to close her door completely. She could still feel the slight scratches where Neko had protested his pillow moving. She settled back on the bed and was about to fall asleep. Neko waited for his pillow to stop moving then proceeded to yawn and settle back into place. The sliver of light from the hallway grew larger.

* * *


	4. Pchan's Fate

Chapter 4 -- P-chans Fate 

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimer. 

Author's Note: I would like to thank Koala Kitty for prereading this and helping me find problems. Her stories on on as well. As allways the mistakes remaining are my own.

* * *

P-chan was thanking the heavens that they had once again delivered him into his angels arms as he walked into the darkened room. He thought that perhaps something was odd, but he was tired and wanted to rest. He hopped up on a chair and then to the bed and started walking up the mass of covers. 

Neko was having this cool kitty dream about a ball of yarn, when somehow he sensed an enemy approach. This caused Neko to wake up grumpy and poke his head out from under the covers. Yep, definitely an enemy. Neko yawned in annoyance and crawled out of the covers. 

P-chan was stunned. Since when did Akane get a pet? How could she replace him? His little piggy heart was breaking. He glowed darkly with his depression until his piggy brain came to the only logical conclusion. Ranma must have given it to her to spite him. It was all Ranma's fault then. Well his little kitty would pay. A more rational observer might point out that Ranma would never ever give a cat as a gift but rationality and P-chan were often strangers. 

Nabiki had awakened at this point and was trying to assess the situation. Ranma check. P-chan? What's P-chan doing here? 

P-chan bweed and tried to head but his eternal rival's pet to nock him out of the bed. This was most definitely a mistake since this was not an ordinary housepet. Neko glowed softly blue before he raked his claws across the side of P-chan's face tossing him across the room into the wall. Nabiki got up to look at the pig. Oddly enough while there were deep scratches there they were only scratches. Nabiki was half expecting the pig to be cut in two. 

Neko walked up to his unconscious foe and sniffed a bit. Seemingly satisfied Neko hopped back up on the bed and looked at Nabiki with a curious expression. 

Nabiki turned to the cat and said quietly, "I'll be back soon Ranma. I need to treat P-chan's cuts first." 

Neko meowed as if in protest and then curled up in the warmest spot in the exact middle of the bed and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

Nabiki carried the unconscious pig into the bathroom. Why Akane loved this thing she would never know. She turned on the hot water and held a clean washcloth in the water stream until it was warm. She then wrung out the excess and gently applied them to P-chan's face where the scratches were. Suddenly she was pushed against the wall with a naked Ryoga on top of her? What the heck? Her calm exterior shattered for a second as she shoved him off herself. Even in that split second of rage she remembered not to hit him, as she had no desire to damage her hands. It took Nabiki about two seconds to figure out the truth. It was clear Ranma knew, and it was equally clear that he wanted people to know but couldn't say directly for some reason. She wondered who else knew. She would have to find out although her father and the panda were high on her list of suspects. 

She glanced over at him and noted that he was still out cold. She had to admit he wasn't bad to look at if you happen to go for the stupid obsessed types. Still waste not, want not. She took several pictures after draping a towel across his middle. Then she poured a little cold water on him carefully so as not to wake him. Now where was that waterproof soap? Ah there it was. She mixed a little with some water and poured it over the little pig. She supposed she should have actually washed him for best results but didn't want to. Yep the pig is still out cold. Ranma-neko must hit rather hard or perhaps its just a manifestation of the nekoken. She glanced at the back of the Jusenkyo product and read the label, "Product is most effective if used on a person with a normal Jusenkyo curse while in their cursed form. In this case protection may last weeks." A very predatory grin came to her face. Perfect, this will give me enough time to think of a better punishment for the pig. At first she thought to just throw the pig out, but as she continued to ponder a much better idea came to mind. She made a phone call to Kinra. She lived alone and was usually up this time of night. Besides she owed Nabiki. 

"Kinra, I've got a job for you. I want you to deliver a package for me." 

"At this time of night?" 

"No you can wait to deliver it till morning if you want, but I need you to pick it up now." 

"Ok, I'll be right there." 

She glanced at the pig again. She figured Ryoga would be waking up soon. Mustn't let him escape his punishment. That just wouldn't do. She quietly opened the storage closet and looked around the top in the corner. Ah there it was, an old metal pet cage just big enough for a small pet like a pig. She also grabbed a piece of pink ribbon she found. She tied a cute little bow tie around him and then quickly placed the pig inside and placed a padlock on the cage. 

Next she went back to her room and typed out some care and handling instructions. Severe allergy to hot water. Rare species so care should be taken to select an appropriate piggy mate for him soon. Oh ya, and the special soap must be used to bath him every couple weeks to protect his skin from the pollution in the atmosphere. Yes, that should do it. 

Nabiki heard Kinra arrive and soon enough Ryoga was on his way to his new home. She would have to have Kinra check on Asuza to make sure Ryoga was properly settling in and to protect Asuza in the off chance Ryoga was worse than she thought. Still she found it very unlikely that Ryoga would enjoy one minute there. Come to think of it, one of her assistants already sold Mikado a small female pig to give to Asuza so she would shut up about Charlotte after that ice skating mess. Perhaps she would teach the baka how to skate later. Once again she briefly wondered if passing Ranma to her little sister was a mistake. Ah well, whats done is done. Still, if the fiancee mess could be solved and she could manage to grind off a few rough edges. Yes it was something to think about since its not as if his relationship with her sister seemed likely to ever amount to anything. 

At times she seemed to like the pig more than her fiancee. She smiled at that. Yes Ryoga was definitely in for a rude awakening. Who would have ever thought that such a cute harmless girl would install an electric fence and use shock collars to insure none of her pets escape err got hurt outside. She had gotten a nice bonus for being able to get Asuza to buy such an expensive system. 

Nabiki yawned. She had much to do tomorrow, not the least of which was to begin finding out who all knew about the pig preferably without letting anyone know that she knew until she was ready. There was a reason people feared Nabiki Tendo and it seemed likely that some people needed to be reminded. She knew she would never forget her last words, her last promise to her mother. She thought of Akane and briefly wondered if she knew and pretended otherwise. She had certainly had a lot more chances of finding out than most. She closed her bedroom door behind her. A small grin was on her face as if she thought of something clever as she turned towards her bed and saw Neko her face grew a small yet true smile. "You just had to flop in the middle of the bed didn't you? I wonder if you will be this inconsiderate to whoever you marry." She sighed and tried to carefully move Neko, but her hands were batted away without Neko even waking up. She grumbled and grabbed one of the pillows and a couple spare blankets from the closet. After locking the door she folded a cover so as to provide some padding and tried to fall asleep on the floor. 

It wasn't working, despite appearances the Ryoga thing had thrown her equilibrium. He had to be punished and she could think of few fates worse on short notice. No it wasn't Ryoga's punishment that worried her. Yet it reminded her of some of the pivotal decisions of the past. Why the heck did she ever fall for the blue blunder? And that crap where she fed his obsession for his sister as some twisted way to address her own hurt. Yes the family needed the money. It needed it badly, but there should have been some other way. She could have ended those morning challenges within a day. Kuno was so pathetically easy to manipulate that one of her leutenants could have even done it. She knew Akane had gotten so much worse after that, but she still couldn't understand what motivated her younger sibling. 

In the bed above a black cat had yawned slightly and was looking down at his pillow as if wondering what it was doing down there. 

She quietly said, "Oh Ranma, I want my family back yet they just seem to drift farther and farther away." 

The cat jumped down and butted his head into Nabiki's face and purred as Nabiki began to pet. Before she fell asleep she said softly, "Goodnight again Ranma. Oh and don't think I'll forget you making me sleep on the floor." Her voice was more playful than anything, since she could have moved from the floor, but she didn't want to wake Neko again." Neko continued to pur softly in his sleep.

* * *

Ranma woke up and yawned from his usual futon in the guest room. That was odd. I woke up normally. I never wake up normally. It's always water or a kick or occasionally a mallet. He stumbled into the kitchen. Odd there was no food being made. Come to think of it he didn't see anyone. 

Oh well he was hungry so it was time to exercise those skills in martial arts cooking that he had learned awhile back for the odd challange. Soon enough he had a very nice looking breakfast that even tasted pretty good. It wasn't up to Kasumi's standards, but then Ranma had no desire to try to out do Kasumi in her own art. 

Weird, at the very least he expected the panda to come try to steal his food. 

He looked around outside and didn't see anyone, just the ordinary city. Ranma was beginning to wonder if he was dreaming, yet pinching himself revealed that he was awake. "Helloooooo. Is anyone around?" 

No response. Well it was time for school soon. 

She saw the school clock and realized that she was already late. Wait a second I'm a girl? When did this happen. I didn't get splashed, did I? Ranma felt her clothes. Yep everythings dry. In a panic she ran to the boys bathroom and splashed hot water on her face. Reassured that he was no longer top heavy he toweled off and ran to class only to find it empty. 

Ranma announced quietly, "Well the world has officially gotten even wierder." 

Ranma opened a window and jumped out. He then proceeded to roof hop through and around Nerima, but no matter where he went he found nothing, that is until he began to cover the same areas again. The school window he had opened was closed again. A bowl he had saw on the counter earlier at Ucchan's was no longer there. A trash can was in a different position from where it was earlier. It made no sense. He would have sensed any people unless they had Cologne or Dr. Tofu's skill at hiding. Also for some reason he couldn't understand he felt that Akane was in danger, and the feeling was growing stronger with time. 

Ranma went to his spot under the bridge and did something he rarely had time to do. He sat down to think and try to figure out just what was going on. If Akane was in danger he had to help, but for the life of him he had no idea how since he had no idea where she was.

* * *

Outside the Tendo dojo Cologne looked through windows to try to figure just what was going on. She had suppressed her aura to such an extent that she doubted anyone but Happosai could have sensed her, and then only if he was actively trying. No p-chan in Akane's bed. Well he did get lost a great deal, so thats no great concern. Her aura still showed signs of Shampoo's meddling along with son-in-law's clumsy attempt to fix it. In truth she was tempted to repair the damage, but no like this she was not much of an obstacle in snagging son-in-law. If she were to become that obstacle then she might very well have to die. Cologne was, after all, ultimately responsible for enforcing Joketsuzoku law. No Akane would wait until son-in-law had done his duty or was dead. Well there was one other door that the events at phoenix mountain had opened for him, but only the elders knew of it and the law said very clearly how that must go. Given how he was raised, that solution seemed unlikely at best. 

Of a much greater concern was her great granddaughter. She was a great disappointment and a fool. She very much feared that she would be called upon soon to banish her own daughter. She prayed it would not come to that, for her daughter's failure would fall upon herself and there would be no way left for her to regain her honor. Genma often complained how the gods could curse him with such an incompetent son. She wished she was half as lucky as the fat fool. True Ranma's upbringing had severely hurt his ability in situations other than martial arts, but that could be fixed. Her own daughter had the benefit of an excellent upbringing, yet she let baseless pride fool her into believing she was worth something just because she was better than her peers at the art. The entire younger generation of Joketsuzoku warriors were a joke in her book, and what was really unforgivable was her daughter had not learned how to think. A woman's greatest weapon was her mind and yet her method of attack was little more than See Ranma, glomp Ranma and ask for a wedding. At times she acted as badly as that brainless idiot of son-in-law's father, and Soun Tendo. What a discrace her heir acted as stupid as a man. 

She moved to Nabiki Tendo's window. She looked in and saw a black cat's head peaking out from the covers. How very odd. Well it had a cat's aura so it wasn't another Jusenkyo curse at least. She looked again at Nabiki Tendo and studied her deeply with her aura sight. If she had to wish for an heir Nabiki Tendo was almost perfect. The only pity was she had not kept up in the art, but then again her aura did indicate skill that she must keep carefully hidden. It wasn't up to Shampoo's level, but the very fact of how well she hid it spoke well of her. It was a pity the Xi Fang Xiang Gao Shiatsu technique wouldn't work for long on her. Too little and the changes would be resisted by her sharp mind, and too much and she would be as useless as the younger Tendo. 

She glanced at the eldest Tendo daughter and sighed once again. Born with much potential but squandered playing the dutiful Japanese mother because of her weak father. The fathers did not interest her at all, other than the reoccuring temptation to kill them for their crimes against their respective family. It was true that the Josetsuzuko respected women more than men, but a man that weak to let his daughter's take care of him would be hated and reviled. As for Genma there was a death sentence on the books for the Nekoken alone. If Ranma had been an Amazon when it occurred she would have killed him by now. 

She grimaced. There was nothing to be learned here tonight other than the fact that son-in-law wasn't there, yet she still felt his touch on the weave of the pattern in this town. It was most frustrating. 

She returned to her room and locked the bag of catnip laced with sleeping drugs back into her cabinet. Josetsuzuko law forbid the use of some of the more extreme methods, but if son-in-law were really trapped in the nekoken then she could justify using some of them. An out of control nekoken student was flatly unacceptable at any cost and if when keeping him controlled for his and everyone else's safety a few dozen promising Josetsuzuko warriors happen to conceive a child, well no one would really complain too loudly. 

That was her real hope that Shampoo would at least manage to trip him up long enough to conceive a child. She had long ago done the small magics on them both to insure it would be a girl child. That girl child was her true hope for an heir. Then again it was as likely that any child conceived would take after Shampoo leaving her back at square one. Perhaps son-in-law's condition was truly a blessing in disguise, since it gave her that somewhat distasteful option to achieve her goals without having to rely on Shampoo. Now she just had to find him.

* * *

Happosai may have been as skilled as the old ghoul, but he was far easier to distract. There were lingerie modelling shows in America and he was on a mission. A mission so dear to his heart that he was on a fifty state tour. Thanks to the wonderful thing called the internet he was never at a loss of where to go next. 

He sat in his hotel room and began to go through his pretties. "Sweeto. Oh my dear Ranma-chan will love this one." He sighed when he realized that he would soon have nowhere left to store his pretties. Well things were getting too easy here, so perhaps it was time to check on his heir.

* * *

Author's Notes: 

I actually thought I'd get further plot wise than I did in the chapter, but such is life. Part of the idea for Cologne came from Innortal's comment, but it has changed and evolved a bit as I wrote this. I went ahead and read through the previous chapters again doing some minor edits, but nothing to justify a reread in of itself. One cautionary warning is I have only general ideas where I'm going and have not plotted this out in detail so if people ask me will it be RaAk or RaNa well I really don't know. I don't even promise a happy ending. Time will tell although I think this is a little better approach, at least for now, than trying to force the story too much to a specific outcome. If nothing else one learns by experience. Feel free to make story suggestions. 

Once again thanks for the reviews. This chapter is written in thanks. If people really don't want to create an account, but do want to comment on a chapter to me, then feel free to find my email address. It's on my out of date web page. I think I'll stick with my decision not to allow anonymous reviews though. Yes I realise I'll get perhaps half as many as I might otherwise, but I'd rather have a name of some kind attached to a review, be it good or bad. 

One persons review claimed that I was arrogant and obnoxious for not allowing anonymous reviews yet saying I needed more than a couple to justify continuing working on this. While I will admit my previous use of the word "bothered" was perhaps a poor choice, I do not think the creation of an account is that hard and web browsers tend to store passwords if you let them these days and there is always email. (There are also features that help non author's keep track of their favorite stories and such if they have an account.) Even without anonymous reviews, if a story is truly interesting and grabbing peoples attention there will normally be more than a couple signed reviews a chapter. If there isn't, then it probably means I'm not doing so hot with that story and perhaps my time would be better spent on another story or something, or at least thats the assumption I would make. 

I do hope that if the person who used those terms wishes to review in future he or she consider the fact that the reviews are really supposed to help me improve my writing and let me know how I'm doing on my writing. In that respect email would have been a more appropriate venue to express their concerns. 

If anyone sees mistakes and wants to put it in an email or review I'll try to fix it eventually. 


	5. Birth of Ice

Chapter 5 - Birth of Ice 

See chapter 1 disclaimer. I would like to thank my prereader Koala Kitty. Author's notes are at the end. 

Panda Signs  
thoughts 

* * *

Nabiki had almost surrendered her consciousness to the peaceful oblivion of sleep when she again thought of the mistakes she had made and how it all began. It was almost twelve years ago now since her mother passed away and almost two years since Ranma had come. 

Nabiki had been seven at the time when her father walked her through the door to the hospital room. A nurse was attending to some machines. Nabiki wondered why she was disconnecting the thin red hose that went to her mother. She pulled on her daddy's arm and asked what she was doing. 

Soun didn't understand. That machine was helping Kimiko. Why would they disconnect it? It didn't make any sense. 

"Um excuse me? What exactly are you doing?" 

"The doctor is discontinuing use of the dialysis machine." 

"But that machine is helping keep her alive." 

"It was her choice. It wasn't helping anymore. I'm sorry." 

Soun started to grab the nurse and demand that it be reconnected, when Kimiko managed to weakly grab his arm. "It's ok dear. It's will be ok." 

Soun saw the sadness in her eyes and realized the implications. He couldn't take it and ran out the door. 

The nurse said a simple, "I'm sorry as she pushed the equipment away." 

"Come here Nabiki and give your mommy a hug." 

Nabiki was a little confused. They took the machine away that was keeping her mother alive and her daddy had run away. It was not that Nabiki lacked the intelligence to understand. No, it was anything but that, but her mind slipped around the truth as if in not making the final connections it protected her for a little longer. 

Nabiki mechanically went over to her mother and gave her a hug. She wanted to say something but she couldn't find the words, couldn't find the thoughts to even begin to think of the words. 

Kimiko did her best to hold tightly onto her daughter, but it was at best a gentle embrace. The doctor had told her that it was only a matter of time now and this way she would at least be alert for most of the little time she had left. It was a simple choice really. She wished Soun hadn't run out. There was so little time left and so much she had not done, had not said. Soun was always a bit of a coward, but she loved him so. 

"Nabiki, Mommy is going away for awhile." 

"When will you be back?" She somehow knew the answer but couldn't bring her mind to face it so asked in the hopes she was wrong. She so wanted to be wrong. Her hands clenched slightly in her effort to hold it off. 

"It will be a long time my precious daughter. One day I will see you again, but until then I need you to promise to be strong for me and to help take care of our family." 

She still didn't truly understand the concept, at least not how she would come to understand it in the coming years, but intellectually she knew what it meant. Her mommy was going to die. She did the only thing she could do. "I promise mommy." 

Before long a nurse brought in Kasumi and walked Nabiki back to the waiting room where Akane was playing. Nabiki really wished that she could be as happy and carefree as Akane.

* * *

In the years that followed Nabiki learned to help Kasumi around the house and did what ever she could to help Akane be happy. Kasumi and her father helped with this. Somehow it seemed only right that one of them be allowed to be happy and Akane was daddy's little girl. 

It didn't take Nabiki long to figure out what their greatest problem was. Put simply the money from their few investments and her mother's life insurance was spread too thin and would run out in a few years if they didn't do something. Her father was never the same. Classes faded away after her mother's death. Her father was too lost in his own sorrow to be much of a teacher. He would sometimes read the same paper for hours only occasionally giving Akane a half hearted lesson in martial arts. He didn't do it for the sake of the art, but to see the smile on his little girl's face. At times that smile and face would remind him too much of his dear Kimiko and he would make some excuse to go back to his newspaper and saki. 

Nabiki soon began to collect aluminum cans from around the nearby neighborhood. Recycling brought in little though. Her sister's cooking continued to improve by leaps and bounds, while her own, while tolerable never got close to that level. Akane never had a desire to cook, always practicing in the dojo to become the worlds best martial artist or showing tricks to her friends. 

Almost six years after her mother's death shortly after Nabiki turned thirteen she was again searching desperately for ways to earn money. Kasumi and her had managed to stretch the money they had much father than she thought it could ever go. Combined with what little she was able to earn from the few odd jobs she could get from kind neighbors and Kasumi's skill at doing wonders with even the poorest grade of food and other supplies they had made it this far, but they were almost out of money. 

The idea came in the form of a television show. A small girl was selling lemonade off of her front yard. She grinned and went to talk with Kasumi. 

It was hard work, but their bake sale did amazingly well even given the limited hours they could do it because of their school commitments. They even had put a couple small tables in the guest room and served a few people that way. Nabiki knew it was partially the kindness of the neighbors and partially it was her sister's wonderful food, but for just over a year they did well. Akane remained blissfully in her own world and in truth she was much better in martial arts than all her friends, but then none of her friends practiced the art. Both Nabiki and Kasumi practiced some, but not enough to overshadow their younger sister. If for no other reason they simply didn't have the time Akane had. They mostly practiced the soft arts that their mother had taught them so long ago. It didn't have the flair of anything goes, but it was effective in its own way, and in Kimiko's opinion was far more graceful. Kasumi seemed almost happy during that time instead of her usual vapid smile since people would often complement her on her grace and her wonderful cooking. 

It ended when Ken Osuraka died. Ken was a very influential man and while he did not know all of the truth about the work Nabiki and Kasumi had done to keep their family afloat, he suspected much of it. He was the one ultimately in charge of enforcing the rules that said children under the age of fifteen were not allowed to work. He knew the law was meant to protect the children from being abused as child labor in factories and such and more importantly he knew that the Tendo family needed the money they made and that it was best to overlook the technical violation of the law. In fact he was a frequent diner there and would be well missed by both Kasumi and Nabiki. Kasumi for his continual complements on her wonderful cooking and Nabiki for the tips he left behind. 

It wasn't long before Naoko Kinsen was promoted to fill Ken's old job. Naoko was perhaps well meaning, but allways insisted on following the rules exactly. Three weeks after Ken's death she delivered the official notice stating Soun Tendo would be fined heavily if Nabiki continued to work. Furthermore the restaurant would have to be closed down because it did not meet the zoning requirements for a food establishment. Nabiki was now 14 years old. 

Nabiki tried to find a loophole in the law, but it required Soun to request a formal hardship exception and attend a formal hearing before a magistrate and the only way that would ever be approved is if they converted the dojo so that their restaurant met city codes. Her father would never agree to that. Further it seemed a bad idea to bring attention to the fact that their father still couldn't bring himself out of his depression to work. No, attention was definitely a bad idea. The government might decide it was in their best interests to put the children in a home that could take care of them. She could not allow that. She had promised and Nabiki Tendo kept her promises, well at least the important ones. 

They had done well the past year, but it could be stretched a few years at best. Nabiki was now in junior high with Akane a year behind. Kasumi was just starting in high school. 

Kethra was a junior in high school and she had reports on everyone. Also despite appearances she was not without sympathy. She knew that Nabiki and Kasumi had been working hard at their informal little restaurant. She had eat there often since the prices were good as was the food. It also gave her a place to discuss business since only a few loyal customers ever used the tiny dining area, although many more picked up food to bring back to their families. Kethra found it quite amusing that many of those families didn't know it was takeout. The loss of the restaurant was an annoyance, but there were other places she could do business. Of a much greater interest was Nabiki. She was young, but very sharp. Yes Nabiki would be a great asset in gathering information and helping her organization. For that matter she would need someone to take her place when she left, and so far no one else had showed any promise at all. 

And so began Nabiki's life learning the ropes of spying and blackmail. It was ironic that this was where she had a chance to practice her early martial arts knowledge and expand on it greatly. She learned a very great deal in secret from Kethra. That knowledge had kept her in one piece many times when a boyfriend or such would get angry at being blackmailed when she didn't have support around her. 

At first Nabiki didn't like her new work, but it did pay far better than anything else she could do especially with the rules that were now being enforced on children working. Nabiki grimaced at that. Oh well, it didn't matter, she would do it for her family. As time passed a predatory smile could often be seen on Nabiki's face in unguarded moments. 

Kethra was amazed. By the start of her senior year Nabiki was so good it was scary. She truly had the drive, but she was a bit worried that the power it was gaining Nabiki was corrupting her. She almost regretted bringing her in. It wasn't that she was bad at her job. After only a year's worth of training she had excelled beyond her wildest expectations. Her skills in the art of ninjitsu that she was teaching the younger girl were progressing at a frightening pace. Some of this could be explained by her early martial arts training, but not all. No, Nabiki Tendo was just good at most anything she put the effort in to be good at. She hoped her father never found out that her daughter was learning the skills of a ninja since it was likely that he would disapprove greatly. 

Her regret was for the kind young woman she had first met. She knew, the why of it, or at least most of it. Nabiki simply justified anything she did that earned money as being for her family and therefore ok. It was amazing how even the brightest woman can be led astray by the purest of intentions. Kethra sighed and vowed to continue her training and try to do what she could to help her young friend before the year ended and she left for college.

* * *

It was the beginning of the first year of High school when she first met Tatewaki Kuno. He had apparently been requested to leave a prestigious private school for discipline problems. 

She stared out the window at the odd newcomer who had the habit of reciting Shakespeare, badly, to various women who peeked his interest. That and he was also reputed to be an expert in Kendo. He was cute she realized and as she stared a bit longer she realized something else. 

I'm attracted to him? Why him? I didn't think there was anything other than money that my heart could love anymore. Then again he is rumored to be rich. I wonder, if I could make him fall in love with me... Yes that might just solve our money problems. Besides he is cute. 

And so began Nabiki Tendo's quest to win the heart or at least the wallet of one crazy kendoist. She soon had gathered data on his interests and proceeded to try to spin him around her little finger, but in the process of trying to catch the fish she had unwittingly put herself in the net and let herself truly fall for him. He sounded so romantic sometimes that her heart truly did melt. 

The later months of the school year, they could often be seen kissing in a quiet corner. She had even forgotten all about trying to extort money from him. Then the end of the school year came and Kuno left with his rather odd sister on vacation till the beginning of the next year. 

Kethra was glad that Nabiki had found someone although she was a bit worried about that someone being Tatewaki Kuno. Still she had done all she could and it was time for her to move on. 

With Kuno and Kethra's absence the pace of Nabiki's extra curricular activities picked up over the summer and when time for school to begin again came her reputation as the ice queen had become the Nabiki that most everyone knew today. 

Kuno had missed the first week of school and Nabiki was really getting anxious. She had talked to Sasuke and he said something about family business and that he would be there the following Monday. 

The following Monday came and Kuno walked through the gates. Nabiki tried to give him a hug, but was shook off. 

"Unhand me you vile wench. My eyes hath been opened and I will no longer be deceived by the temptations of a harlot." 

Nabiki could not take it. The only thing that made sense was that he somehow had leared how she made money. Still it gave him no right to treat her like a whore. She didn't know where it came from, but suddenly there was a large wooden mallet in her hands and she used all of her strength to plaster him into a wall knocking him unconscious. 

"You bastard. We are through." Some thought they saw a few tears in her eyes as she ran off, but most dismissed it as their imagination. The concept of Nabiki crying was just too unbelievable for them. 

Less than a week later Kuno came to her asking for info about her sister Akane Tendo that he had begun to take an interest in and who had already rebuffed him several times. 

"10,000 yen." After all if she was to him was a mercenary, then by heck he was going to pay. 

"You expect the noble scion of the house of Kuno to pay such a price?" 

"20,000 yen." 

"Sold." 

She was really surprised when he actually handed over the money and regretted ever making the offer. She hardened herself saying it was for her family and for the next hour answered questions about her sister. It was for her family after all and well maybe for that new outfit she wanted. She pondered what colors she would buy as she mechanically answered the idiots question. His rejection still hurt, but she comforted herself in the joy of fleecing him for money. 

In time the slight guilt she felt at selling out her sister faded. Akane had grown spoiled over the years. In some ways she denied reality more effectively than Kuno ever could and there was a part of Nabiki that was happy to see Akane get harassed. It was very entertaining and satisfying to see Kuno lusting after her sister and not able to get what he wanted. It served the bastard right. 

When the time came that Kuno issued that moronic challenge that anyone wishing to date Akane must first beat her in honorable combat Nabiki did nothing, well nothing other than open the betting pools. She rationalized it as being good for business. Besides her sister was pretty good at martial arts and it would give her an excuse to work off stress. The justifications sounded hollow then and now as she was fighting to get to sleep continued to sound hollow. A small mental voice even suggested she was jealous, but she beat it into submission and it stopped its commentary. 

Every step on the journey of her life had seemed important somehow, yet she cried softly the childhood she had lost and the pain she had unwittingly helped cause her younger sister. All for money. She had made a lot of it, at the cost of a lot of tears for others. Perhaps this thing with helping Ranma was to be her redemption. Or perhaps just having Neko purring on top of her brought a small peace to her heart. It didn't matter any more tonight, for she was tired and it was time to rest. Her last thought being that Ranma would have never betrayed her like Tatewaki did.

* * *

Author's Notes. 

First off my prereader didn't like this chapter that much and my small revisions are unlikely to change that. Nabiki is arguably OOC and my justification for closing the restaurant is a little weak, but there really is a law for underaged workers in Japan. Ultimately despite giving it some time to think about inspiration failed me and I decided to stick largely with my original version and move on. I'm including a link I used for the age information. Replace the punctuation as appropriate. 

www:right-to-education:org/content/age/japan:html

* * *

Yes this chapter is one large flashback. I thought of the idea and realized if I wanted future events to have the most meaning, then Nabiki's past needed to be fleshed out. 

If anyones wondering, I find it very unlikely that it will be a Kuno matchup with anybody. Ultimately Kuno betrayed her, at least in my telling, and that is something that cannot be easily forgiven. I suppose some wish me to pick RaNa or RaAk or something and well I'm open to suggestions, as long as they come with a little bit of reasoning behind them. I confess to having a bit more fun with this story in that I don't know exactly how it will end myself yet, and by keeping my options open well it may be a bit of a surprise for me as well. I do have a plan though. Its the pesky details that are hiding from me. 

No one much complained about my treatment of the lost boy, but don't worry Ryoga isn't completely out of the story, although it may be awhile before he is heard from again. 

Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think of the story. To be honest I'm curious if anyone will like this chapter since Koala Kitty did have some valid points. Ultimately though, its one chapter so hang in there. Story suggestions and corrections can be useful as well although I really doubt I will do major changes to this chapter given that I already gave it quite a bit of time. The more reviews I get the more likely I am to find motivation to work on a story. 


	6. Knowledge's Price

6. Knowledge's Price **Kitten's Hope   
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. This piece of work is purely for enjoyment purposes. 

Author's Notes: _Thoughts are shown like this._ Panda signs are shown like this. Note that I replaced the code to displace fiancée and fiancées in LaTeX that was causing problems rendering the html version. If anyone sees any other chapters cutoff mysteriously let me know and I'll go back and upload them again.

* * *

Mouse wondered how long this scheme of Nabiki's would last. Well its true that he pushed things a bit in that direction, he still didn't like it much. Far too much could go wrong. Of course the alternatives were also unaceptable.

* * *

Kasumi yawned and turned off her alarm clock five minutes before it was going to go off. It had been over a year since the alarm clock beat her, although with Ranma-kun making life interesting it had been close, very close sometimes. She wondered where Ranma was. It would be dull here without him. She went to clean up and restore her serenity for the coming day. One of the few things she practiced religiously was a bit of meditation in the furo to help her retain her calm throughout the hectic day ahead. 

A black cat wandered through the half open door as if to see what was going on. He jumped up on a bucket and looked at the unclothed Kasumi as if in curiosity.

"Oh neko-chan. Do you want a bath?"

Kasumi reached out and grabbed the unsuspecting kitty and managed to get him in the tub and most of his body submerged.

"Meoooooooooooow!"

Neko jumped out of the water, fliped, and hit the floor. He recovered quickly and ran out of the bathroom before Kasumi could blink twice.

"I guess neko-chan didn't want a bath."

* * *

Nabiki yawned and opened her eyes at the sound of Neko's complaint. She grumbled quietly about annoying cats making her sleep on the floor as the culprit of the crime came back in and started trying to shake the water out of his fur. 

"Stop it. I don't want a bath yet."

Neko looks up at his caregiver and meows piteously.

"Don't look at me. Your the one that walked in on Kasumi's bath." _And if you didn't have the mind of a cat right now, you'd be joining a certain pig._ Nabiki paused and then leaned down towards the cat. "So can you understand me at all? Tap your paw 3 times if you can."

Neko meowed. _Figures. This is most definetly not going to be easy. I really didn't want a pet for life._ "You stay here while I get a bath."

Neko followed her into the bathroom. "I said stay there." She tossed him gently out the door and closed it.

* * *

Neko scratched at the door, incidently leaving deep scratches into the wood before getting distracted by the smells coming from the kitchen. 

Kasumi had already started the rice and began to get out the ingredients for the miso soup when Neko wandered in and looked up at Kasumi and meowed piteously.

"Ara Neko-chan. Are you hungry? Well we need to wait until the food cooks." Kasumi sat down in a chair and Neko butted his head against the food provider's leg. Soon enough Kasumi's took pity on the black kitty and picked him up. Kasumi's petting had him purring shamelessly in mere moments. Neko soon had accomplished his goal of making a friend of the food provider with the warm lap. Neko meowed when Kasumi got a small tray of cooked salmon from the refrigerator. He jumped for it, but Kasumi kept it out of his hands. Kasumi put her sternest expression on her face, which was the same one she gave Akane when she asked her not to hit Ranma. Neko rolled over and meowed. "You'll have to wait and eat with everyone else." Neko meowed piteously.

Kasumi's resistance to the little cat's charm fled, and she began to fill a dish with the chopped salmon she had gotten out specifically for the cat. The rest of the crowd had already filled the small table. Neko immediately jumped up and started eating as Kasumi went back in to get the rest of the food.

Genma tried to steal food from the cat, but the cat broke his chopsticks with his paws. "No stupid animal is gonna beat me!"

He continued to try to steal food from the cat, and every time his hands or chopsticks were batted away. The last time Neko accidently knocked a glass of water into him changing him to an overweight panda.

"My my, the great master of anything goes is losing to a kitty cat." Nabiki snickered.

That cat's good. Its no wonder the cat fist is an unbeatable technique. Genma was smug. After all if a cat could show this much potential, why it just justified his teaching it to his son. Why that ungrateful boy. Flip. When I get him back here he will thank me and marry Akane as honor demands.

Nabiki glared at him darkly.

"I am not marrying that pervert."

"Waaaa the groom ran away. Now the houses will never be joined. Waaaah."

Kasumi took her seat and started on her own breakfast. Neko, having finished his food, jumped down and then up into Kasumi's lap to see her plate. Soon enough Neko was sneaking food off her plate as she absently petted the cat.

Nabiki stared for a moment at the pair but said nothing. _I guess you really are a cat right now, complete with being loyal to whomever feeds you._ Nabiki sighed a small, but unnoticed sigh. "Well I'm off."

* * *

With Ranma's absense it seemed reality was uncomfortable with the vacuum left in his place. Whispers abounded about why Ranma wasn't present. 

"I bet Akane put him in the hospital again. Why if he was my boyfriend..."

"No, it was those Amazons. They have captured him and now hes living as a love slave in China." added a boy.

Ukyo listened to all the rumors but had a hard time believing any of them well except maybe the one and that didn't make sense either. If the Amazon's had him, then why were they still here? Besides she had checked the hospitals. She turned to see Kuno strutting out doing. She considered, as she had many times in the past, beating the crap out of him on sheer principle. It simply wasn't worth the risk of him getting fixated on her. She shuddered at the thought. Then again, there was also the potential that he would win. That brought another shudder.

"At last the foul scoundrel Saotome has fled my magnificent pres"

Akane didn't even give him time to finish his speech before malleting him into the sky.

* * *

"Its dangerous. If you are caught..." 

"If I am caught? That will be the day. I thought I was blessed when I was granted the right to watch over my family, but with all the rules and procedure involved about all I can do is watch. I watched as my youngest daughter was attacked day after day until she grew afraid of boys and lashed out at them. I watched as a foreign bimbo and her grandmother damaged my child's spirit and the relationship with her fiancée . I watched my middle daughter's first scam, first blackmail, and the tears she cried sometimes in her sleep. I see the fake smile my oldest daughter wears to try to hold the family together - sacrificing all for that purpose. I watched as my husband fell to pieces at my death and never recovered. Only one time have I been allowed to interfere and even then I was not allowed to finish the job. Well now I'm going to finish the job and damn the consequences."

"Just be careful ok. It is not just your daughter's future that is on the line."

Kimiko smirked and turned to face the other woman directly. "Koanna, you know I'm always careful."

"Well you did fall for Soun, so.."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you. After all, you fell for Genma's father."

Koanna sighed. She just had to bring that up. Wasn't Genma punishment enough for her slip? Besides Ranma turned out very well, so perhaps it was ok in the end, or at least tolerable. She had her own part to play in the coming scene as well. One she did not much care for, but it was necessary.

* * *

Ranma had returned to what passed for the Tendo house here. He looked around and confirmed there was still no one living wherever he was. He no longer thought of it as the real world. The real world didn't have things shift position on their own when he wasn't looking. It didn't have the distances one way change when going back the other way. No wherever this was, it wasn't the real world. The only question was what to do about it. 

As he pondered he heard a growl from outside. It was one of those. The fear came. The fear that he could never fight since it swept reason before it like a flood. He had to flee, to run, to get away. He ran for the back door and down the street, but it had his scent and ran after him. A quick glance backwards confirmed his worst fears. It was a black panther the size of a horse coming after him. He ran faster, and faster. His few coherent thoughts fled as his fears started to rule his mind, but unlike normal there was no escape from the fear in the oblivion brought by the nekoken. A tiny part of him was surprised at this. Another tiny part wished for some water so he could transform and run a bit faster. He saw a brown haired woman about Nabiki's height a little ways down the street.

"Come with me. I'll take you to safety." Ranma was quite willing to follow anyone right that second if they could get him away from the horrible thing. He had to get away. She reached out her hand and he grabbed it and was pulled through a door that he thought was the entrance to a shop, but turned out to be somewhere else entirely. Ranma sighed. _At least that... feline is gone._

After Ranma went through the portal, the black panther shifted, growing thinner and then standing on two legs until its former shifted to that of a very familiar woman. She said softly to no one in particular, "I hope your plan works Kimiko." _If my grandson fails to learn what you have to teach quickly enough he will be trapped there forever. Some chances must be taken, and some are too risky to take. Now if only I knew which category this one was in._ She sighed and turned around. She cursed Happosai briefly for twisting her son into what he had become. There was much work to complete before she could return.

Kimiko led Ranma to a simple house overlooking a valley. The sky was different here, neither bright nor dark and he couldn't find any trace of sun nor stars, yet it felt peaceful. Even without the sun there seemed a feel to this place as if it welcomed him. Ranma glanced at his rescuer again and once again cursed his old man for teaching him that dratted Nekoken. There was something familiar about her. She looked like an older version of Nabiki sitting there in a simple white yukata. Before long they were sitting at a table and she had poured them each a glass of tea.

"Hello Ranma, we need to talk. My family needs your help."

"Um who are you?"

"Don't you know. You've certainly looked at my picture enough in the little shrine in the dojo."

"Mrs. Tendo?"

"Got it in one."

"Then I'm dead?"

"No, your not dead, although in a way neither are you fully alive right now either. Lets just say your taking a holiday from your body while your furrier side has fun."

"Huh?"

"Your real body is in the Nekoken. Because of the unique situation you were in, it was possible to pull your spirit in here. Do you know what the nekoken really is Ranma? Do you know why it has to be a young child to work?"

"I thought it was just an insane martial arts technique."

"Not really. The art is about learning control of mind and body. The nekoken provides a very crude shortcut to some chi skills and an almost zen state of fighting. It is also quite harmful to the subject."

"Huh? What do you mean. All I have is this stupid fear of c..ats. Its even been helpful at times."

Kimiko smirked and then paused for a second. "Tell me Ranma, why do you hurt my daughters?"

"Huh? I would never hurt any woman, much less"

"Oh? You let Nabiki manipulate you. You sit by as Kasumi wastes her life as a surrogate mother and worst of all you let Akane hit you."

"Huh? I haven't done anything.."

"Exactly. By doing nothing you are doing the next thing to condoning their actions. If Nabiki gets used to manipulating people and gets better and better at it, where will she end up? If Kasumi spends all her time at home will she ever be happy? If Akane gets used to beating up all her problems what will happen the day she strikes a normal person?"

Ranma cringed as to the later. The tomboy's hits were hard. Very hard. She hit as hard as P-chan sometimes. She could quite easily kill someone. He knew she would regret it as soon as the swing was done, but that might be too late. Now Nabiki. Ranma could easily see her recruited by some of the less savory people he had run across in his training trip. He thought she was too smart for that, but she was quite addicted to money. Of course she did contribute to the house as well. He did really feel guilty about Kasumi now that she had brought it up. She did so much for him and they mostly took her for granted. Still... "So you want me to try to solve their problems? I can't even solve my own. If I were to.."

"Coward."

"I am no coward."

"Oh? Then why when you are presented a challenge do you make excuses and run away from it. You may be a hot shot martial artist, but at most anything else you are a pathetic coward."

"I am not a coward!" yelled Ranma.

"Oh? Then you won't mind proving it will you."

"Just try me."

Kimiko smirked slightly behind the glass of tea she was about to drink. "Very well. Right now you are trapped in the place between life and death, and unless you can learn what I have to teach you within the next couple weeks you will remain here forever."

"What? I thought I was just in the Nekoken."

"You were, but a friend of mine morphed into a panther and chased you here. You were so easy to manipulate it was quite sad."

"How dare you? What right have you?" His battle aura began to spread out.

"What right have I? What right have I? I'll tell you. You are the only one who has a chance to help my daughters that I could talk to. Now you have two choices, you either learn to truly master your spirit energy within the two week deadline before the connection to your body fades, or you give up and die the rest of the way. Oh and before you rant about life being unfair and all that crap, let me tell you that only a true master of their lifeforce can fix the damage done to Akane and save her. But if you would like to continue ranting, well I can bring up a viewscreen and we can watch Akane's life continue to fall to pieces as she is trapped in her own mind."

Ranma didn't know what to say. He was at first so angry for being manipulated especially by Akane's mother of all people, but hearing that he could help Akane deflated his anger like a pin in a balloon. "Tell me whats wrong with Akane. I have felt she was in trouble somehow.."

Kimiko smiled. _Hook, line, and sinker._ She was prepared to lie to help her daughter of course, but in this case the truth worked as well. She thought it interesting that as soon as Akane was mentioned he forgot about the Nekoken.

"Now we will begin our training by teaching you to find your center. This soul of ice Kho Lon teaches is close, but in some ways misses the point entirely."

Ranma nodded. "I'm ready."

"Empty your mind of all thoughts and emotions. This step is the hardest step, but you must do it. Let go of fear, of hate, of jealousy, of desire. Let go of it all and find your center. When you find your center you will feel the heart of your chi, untainted by emotion."

Ranma sat for hours, and for hours got close, so very close, but Kimiko's aura sight could tell he never hit it. It was like many colored copies of Ranma representing his different aspects were falling into one, but never quite getting there. She decided to try another tactic. "You are close Ranma, but close means nothing."

"What do you mean? I thought I almost had it."

"Wrong." She then channeled a small amount of her spirit into a fine point and aimed it at the weakness where his spirit had failed to align itself. Ranma felt intense pain and then passed out a moment later. She tossed her now cold tea on him causing him to change into a girl and wake up.

"What did you do that for?"

"I demonstrated how easy it was for a master like myself to attack someone who cannot find their center, and as to your gender, well here you are what you think you are."

Ranma grasped onto the last part first and thought of himself as a man, and sure enough he was. Then he thought about the first part. "Well what can I do about it? I have been trying for hours you know."

"Yes I know, and if we had a few months to teach you I might be proud of your progress, but we do not." Kimiko frowned. There was little choice, but she did not have to like it. "Ranma, I think I can show you your center."

"The why didn't you do that in the first place?"

"Because to do so you will have to permit a portion of my spirit inside your own. It has dangers, and it is likely I will know at least some of your thoughts since you lack the ability to control them properly."

Ranma thought of what she said. The danger he didn't mind, but had a lot of thoughts he was not proud of. "Is this the only way?"

"No, we can keep on as we have been, but if you haven't found it by now it could take months."

No need to complete that sentence. They were months that he did not have - that Akane did not have. He sighed. "Ok, Lets do it."

"Very well. Do you best to try to reach your center again, and when you feel my spirit try not to resist. I promise to do no harm."

He did as she asked sitting comfortably on the floor and began to try to center himself. She soon came from behind him and grabbed one of his arms with her own. As she began to move into his spirit, she could sense pieces and fragments of his thoughts. She supposed it was a bit manipulative of her to tell him of that danger so he would focus on them, but well he was supposed to marry her daughter after all.

Ranma saw Kodachi as he lay paralyzed on the roof. _Beautiful, but crazy._ He saw flashes of the Nekoken training and remembered his desire to kill his father and again at Jusenkyo for taking away what he was taught was the most important thing of his life. Then he saw Akane offer to be friends and then saw her nude in the bath. _So very beautiful. I wish she would smile at me._ The memory of waking up with Shampoo in his arms. _Another beautiful, but crazy woman. Akane is gonna kill me, but this feels nice._ He saw Kasumi in a t-shirt and shorts working out in the flower garden. Sweat glistened on her brow and made her shirt cling to her chest showing the outline of her bra. _Thats Kasumi what am I thinking? Akane is going to kill me._ Then he remembered watching Nabiki sit at the table carefully and meticulously going over her business for today. She would sometimes smile when she came to a particularly good result. He knew today was a good day and he couldn't help at marvel how ingenious and clever she was, and cute when she smiled. He knew if he were to marry her, life would never be dull. He caught himself. No I gotta marry the tomboy. If only she would listen.

Kimiko chuckled inwardly at Ranma's thoughts. Her youngest daughter, as she was now, would have called him a pervert many times over for his lustful thoughts. And to think, all three of her daughters interested him in someway. Well that was normal enough, and she didn't sense any desire to string them all along, although he did seem to like the idea of admiring them all. _Nodoka would be thrilled, then again since he didn't plan to marry them all or keep them all as mistresses she might not be, but Nodoka was just weird._

Her spirit was finally where she could show him his center. "Focus Ranma. I am going to show you the fragments of yourself you must integrate to find your center."

Ranma did and he was amazed. The different parts of his spirit created a tapestry more ornate than anything he had ever seen. "That is me?"

"Yes. When you are centered what you are seeing will become uniform and the fluctuations will cease. You should feel almost as if reality snapped in place. Try."

Sure enough now that he could see what he was doing, he managed to find his center within minutes. It felt more right that he had ever felt before.

"Now release your center and get back there as fast as you can."

"Again."

He didn't do it fast enough and she gave a mental shove and knocked him away. "Do it faster and I won't be able to do that. Now again."

Ranma grumbled for a second, only earning another mental shove and then put his annoyance aside and practiced. Soon enough he was able to get to his center almost on reflex.

"Now before I leave you, I want you to find a place in the Earth below you that is calm like your center and then connect the two. This is called grounding. When you are grounded and centered you are difficult to affect by spirit based attacks. It also helps you regain your strength faster and helps you focus your mind as well. Begin." She watched in amazement as he found the spot in mere minutes. She was sure she would have to show him.

Once she was sure he was grounded she gave a hard mental shove. "Very good Ranma. Had I done that before we began, you would have been out cold for days, or dead."

Ranma gulped. Kimiko slowly withdrew her presence from his spirit. She could sense gratitude for her teaching, especially that it didn't hurt as much as his fathers. Kimiko sighed slightly about that. Ranma had not had an easy life, and the pace of these lessons was hardly kind either, but they were out of options.

* * *

Time passed. Ranma had been the best student she ever had. Of course he had also been the only student she ever had. Her daughters were too young to learn what little she knew before she died, and most of her knowledge came after her death. She hoped it was enough, for it was time for him to go, or he would no longer be able to do so. "Thank You Ranma. You have worked so hard that I know you will be able to cross the barrier now and then win back control of your mind from the cat fragment." In truth she knew no such thing, but optimism was important here. 

"Don't worry, I will help Akane." He gave one of his cocky grins. The one that irritated all his challengers to death. Inside he wasn't nearly as as confident. The barrier separating this realm from the realm of the living and his own body would be difficult to breach from this direction. It was apparently easier for those who had lived in this realm for a long time. Something about their spirits becoming in phase with the barrier as time passed. He understood so little of it, but he knew what to do, at least he hoped he did.

After Ranma left Koanna walked in followed by another. Kimiko looked up at the sad yet content smile on her friends face.

"It's time isn't it?" asked Kimiko.

"I'm sorry." responded Koanna.

The man responded in a soft voice. "You were forbidden from such blatant interference."

"Forbidden? What was the point of letting me watch over my family if all I could do was watch them fall to pieces? I did nothing wrong and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

The man asked quietly, "Are you ready then to face your punishment?"

Kimiko sighed. "I am."

"Very well. Come with me."

"What? Aren't you going to at least tell me what my punishment is?"

The man smirked. "Oh that? Well the threat of punishment is really there to prevent casual interference. We choose those allowed to watch over their families carefully. If the interference is important enough that one is willing to risk a potentially great punishment including perhaps reincarnation as a toad or something else equally horrible, then it is hoped that it truly is for a good reason. Oh don't misunderstand, occasionally we are disappointed and have to give real punishments, not to mention clean up the mess made, but this is not the case this time. Well its still possible we will have to clean up your mess, but you are not to be punished, merely moved out of the range of further temptation."

"What do you mean? Will I still be able to see my family?"

Kimiko replied, "See yes. You will have the place next to mine. It seems Ranma TV has high ratings."

"Huh? Oh. What did you mean you might have to clean up my mess?"

"You taught skills that are almost unheard of in the mortal realm. If they are misused they could change the balance of power in the world. It has not been decided if he will be allowed to keep those skills yet. If we have to erase them, well a good erasure has side effects, especially to erase the knowledge of something that uses so many parts of his mind to perform."

"No.. You would erase his memory? Kho Lon knows it as well."

"Kho Lon's knowledge is imperfect and flawed. Most are in favor of the erasure now, but for now we will watch and wait. Come, your time here is done."

Kimiko sighed. Still the cost could be higher. _Don't fail me Ranma._

* * *

Ranma walked to the edge of this place following the slight trail of his own spirit that still linked him to his body. He approached the boundary and brought out his hands to feel along it. Multicolored sparks flew from the barrier at his hand causing him to yank his hand back in pain. _I knew I shouldn't have done that. Ah well time to begin._

He relaxed his body, but did not sit down. What he was going to do was hard enough without wasting the time required to stand. He focused on his emotions, his desires, even those he seldom allowed himself to notice and wrapped each in tainted chi of the opposite polarity. His love for the art was wrapped in the hate of training. His hate of the tomboy's mallet was wrapped in the love of her smile. On and on he went until he came for the last and the hardest. His fear of cats he wrapped in his need to succeed. It was the last because he had no equivalent countering source of bravery to counter such fear. It was the best he could do.

He moved forward into the barrier. It ignored him at first, as it should, but the neutrality he had hoped to achieve with his spirit was imperfect and when he was less than half way through the barrier the pain began. It threatened to bring him to his knees, but he struggled to keep focus to keep pushing through. The pain and agony eat at his control and weakened the barriers he had placed which in turn caused even more pain. He staggered and fell. He tried to reinforce the barriers, but it was impossible. He reached out and tried to pull himself forward only to collapse again. It seemed like hours, but was in reality only minutes before he was finally through. His link to his body pulled him back as his spirit collapsed and sought desperately needed rest.

* * *

Author's Notes: What follows is a few minutes of doodling on a story idea. Feel free to do whatever with it. Maybe I'll even make something out of it someday. Who knows. The following is in no way related to the previous story. I'm just tossing it out there to see what people think of the idea.

* * *

The wedding came and went and Ranma could not be happier about the later part. He felt he had dodged a fate to be feared above all others except maybe becoming a nice subservient Amazon husband. He shuddered. "Sometimes I wish I could do it all again, only this time I wouldn't pick the tomboy." 

At the same time Ranma was making his seemingly idle wish another young woman who should have felt happy at preventing a disaster instead felt empty. It seemed so much time was wasted and no future she could foresee lead to happiness for anyone. "I wish I would have picked Ranma in the beginning."

Let it not be said that the kami are not merciful or at the very least possessing of a unique sense of humor. A group of them that were watching the mortal channel Ranma Saotome marathon when these wishes were heard. One older kami who was now on his second bottle of saki shrugged at said, "Why not? This should be entertaining." in a slightly slurred voice.

For the sake of completeness Ameratsu objected with a weak, "What happened to not interfering with human destiny?"

"But destiny is getting boring." opined another. The rest nodded quietly adding their support to the general consensus. Loki feeling especially brave decided to propose an alternative as a way to seal the deal, "Well Genma did promise Ranma to you if he got food that one day. We could setup the wedding in a few minutes Ameratsu?"

"Um no that won't be necessary. Besides I only helped the moron so Ranma didn't starve."

The one that had now finished his second bottle of Saki snapped his fingers and said, "Tape the good stuff. I gotta get some sleep."

* * *

Author's Notes: Ok, that isn't the best intro in the world, but the key idea being that reset type stories where Ranma goes back and makes things right with Akane are plentiful, but I don't think there are any where Ranma uses his knowledge to try to get Nabiki to fall for him while trying to dodge bombori and the rest. I wouldn't have Nabiki having any past knowledge though. That would make things far too easy and we can't have that. At any rate if anyone likes the idea and writes a chapter or two, let me know. It is probably something I'd like to read. 

Additional: As one reviewer correctly pointed out a small section of about three hundred sixty three words is based on how mind magic was taught in a story by Mercedes Lackey. I apologize for forgetting to mention that.

* * *

2005-03-13 


	7. The Way Back

7. The Way Back **Kitten's Hope   
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. This piece of work is purely for enjoyment purposes. 

He awoke to pain as the memories of all the times he was in the Nekoken slammed into him. He remembered in vivid detail how close he had come to killing Genma when he first learned the dratted technique. There were a few others over the years where he had injured people badly, but he was relieved to note that they all deserved it. His first kiss was as a cat and he remembered it now. He smiled at that. Then there were the times he had saved Akane and even Shampoo once. He chuckled briefly at the antics of the cat, how it would always come to Akane as it sensed the kind spirit within even as he could only see the angry tomboy. 

Before long he came to more recent memories. Shampoo and Kodachi's betrayal, then Nabiki turns me into a cat. He stopped in amazement that he could even think the term now. It still wasn't easy, but it was no longer so terrifying. Still being a cat was odd. Sleeping with Nabiki and kicking P-chan's arse as a cat. Now that was funny. _I wonder what happened to P-chan?_ Then he remembered seeing Kasumi naked. _Kawaii. Now I've seen two of the three Tendo girls.. Bad thought Ranma. Bad thought._

He remembered the special food Kasumi would fix and how she would pet him just so. It felt so nice that he just wanted to stay there and feel her soft hands pet his fur forever. Then there was how he felt nestled on top of Nabiki's pajama covered chest and was again petted. It was different here somehow. Nabiki was gentler, almost as if she was lost in thought, but at the same time Neko felt like he was the most important thing in the world to her. How peaceful it was, except he could feel the sadness emanating from her. His heart ached to comfort her. It was only a memory though. There was even the times Akane's pseudo self sat down and played with the kitty. It was odd that she could be so angry one moment, about pretty much anything to do with boys or a certain Saotome, and kind the next. Then again he understood now, and he had a job to do. 

One thing he didn't understand. The Nekoken was a separate part of his spirit with its own memories. It didn't make any sense for him to be experiencing those memories. He focused on the part of his mind he knew to contain the Nekoken and moved his sense of self there only to find destruction and desolation. It was as if some great battle was fought that destroyed the very fabric of the mental landscape here. As he entered the area he knew to be the core of where the Nekoken lived he saw a shimmering older blonde haired lady appear that looked a little like his father. 

"Hello my Grandson. I'm sorry we can't meet and I must leave this recording to convey my thoughts. First of all, I'm sorry about the panther thing. You see it was necessary to get you to leave your own mind for two reasons. The first was so Kimiko could teach you what you needed to learn. The second was so I could do what was necessary here. With the little training Kimiko had time for you would be ill prepared to confront the damaged part of your spirit that had formed the Nekoken. You see it is rather like a kitten, with all the traits and characteristics of a cat. Those characteristics were deeply ingrained, and an integral part to it. They could not be removed from it. My dear son, I'm afraid you are too kind at times and were you allowed to face this part of yourself you would have likely tried to make it a part of yourself as an alternative to killing it, especially after seeing its memories. I could not allow this. It might have given you the control of the nekoken, but in the end the damage would remain and simply be spread all through your spirit and impossible to repair. I am sorry, sorry to have had to kill that part of you to save the whole. In time you can and will truly heal. Use this as a guide to heal Akane. It is your duty to do the job right and cut the cancer of her spirit away so the whole may heal. Do not forsake her. Good luck my grandson and please forgive me." " 

Ranma stared at the fading image of his grandmother. "It was my own body, my own spirit. You could have given me the choice." He knew she was right though. He could not have killed that part of himself. _She didn't even tell me her name and she killed him. He had kept me safe and helped me so many times and she killed him._ A few tears fell from Ranma's eyes as he let himself regret paths not taken. He then centered himself and let his consciousness once more fully merge with his body. He grumbled slightly as he remembered that he was still a cat, but the place he was lying was very soft. He opened his eyes and stretched. 

"Ow. Stupid cat. Watch your claws." 

_Oops_ "Meoow." _I wish I knew how to do the sign thing my idiot father does._ Neko stared at her a bit more and then turned to look around the room. _Pen, and paper. No, I don't think I can hold a pen._ He continued to turn his head until he saw the computer with some financial thing open. Neko jumped down then up on the computer and typed 'hot water' quickly. 

"Hey what do you think you are doing?" Nabiki got up and went to fetch the cat only to see the typing on the screen. "Huh?" She turned ot the cat. "Ranma, is that you? Are you back?" 

The cat patted out 'Yep' on the keyboard. 

"And you want hot water huh? Well sorry to burst the bubble but I just put new waterproof soap on you a couple days ago. It will take a couple more to wear off." 

The cat just started banging his head against the keyboard. Some days it just didn't pay to wake up. 

"Hey stop that. Break your own stuff."

* * *

Author's Notes: Last chapter I forgot to note that the grounding and centering idea mentioned came from a book by Mercedes Lackey. The central characters name in the series I'm thinking of was Talia. 

This is a bit short, but it just felt like a good stopping point. I bet some of you expected me to have Ranma absorb the kitty cat, act half cat, and gain mastery of the Nekoken, etc, etc. I do really think that if the Nekoken truly is a massively flawed and idiotic technique, then continuing down that path would be foolish at best. Then again, that path has already been well worn and is getting old. If you enjoyed this, hated this, or see something I should fix, stop and leave a review if you have the time. Of course if you hated this and are still reading, I gotta wonder why, but oh well.

* * *

2005-03-17 


	8. Cat Days

Kitten's Hope  
_Cat Days_

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2.

* * *

Nabiki had fallen asleep almost an hour ago, but woke up when Ranma cat sunk his claws in her as he unconsciously stretched as part of his wake up process. It was not a good way to wake up, yet Nabiki was glad that he was apparently cured. He certainly wasn't happy when he found out that the waterproof soup would take a couple days to wear off, as demonstrated by him bashing his head against her computer keyboard that he had previously been crudely typing on. Nabiki grabbed the upset cat to protect her investment in computing technology. "Settle down you. Its only a couple of days."

Ranma turned toward her and began meowing plaintively. Nabiki began to wonder if she was getting a lecture from a cat. Nabiki smiled. It was the kind of smile that a cat might have after she had cornered lunch. "Ranma-kun since you're back, and stuck as a cat anyway..."

Ranma jumped down and backed up a bit. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. Just what had he gotten himself in to? He was supposed to be helping Akane. Of course, that might be somewhat difficult until he became human again.

"Hmm, Let's see. How can I make use of my own trained pet." Nabiki lay part way back on her bed as if pondering the possibilities.

Ranma was now sure he was not going to like what she came up with. Ranma was eyeing the open window when he heard her say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, otherwise I'll have to tell Kasumi you were peeping on her." Just as Ranma started to move toward the window he fell flat. Her voice was so nice, so innocent, and so devious. In short Nabiki was in perfect form. Ranma looked up at her in resignation. His shoulders slumped and his paws went out as if to say, "I surrender."

Nabiki sighed. She didn't want this. It was disappointing how easily Ranma once again fell into an obvious trap. One day she may feel pity on him and teach him not to give away his guilt, especially when you were guilty. Still it was interesting that Ranma remembered being in the Nekoken and perhaps more importantly being a cat didn't seem to bother him. It was odd. Nabiki was sure that he had not been faking the previous times he said he couldn't remember, so just what had changed? She was sorely tempted to take advantage of Ranma's position since he could be a very useful spy as he was, but no, she had not gone through all this risk only to use him again, well at least not without a very good reason. She regretted many of the things she had done to Ranma, although there were also many things she didn't regret since, well, he was such an easy target at times that he was fun to have around. She did wish there was someone she could joke with who would understand her odd humor though. Having Ranma assume that everything she did was because she was a greedy mercenary was not very pleasant. No she was not just a simple greedy mercenary. Some thought she gave all of her money to household expenses and it was true she did give some, but then that was usually what she collected from the other morons who damaged the house in the first place. No, her real goals were bigger. She was saving for college. Originally she had justified some of her actions by saying that it was for Akane and Kasumi's college fund as well, but that was a dream. She would be lucky if she could afford to go herself, even if daddy did help out.

Nabiki sighed. _I have too many excuses and too many justifications for my actions._ In a somewhat wistful town she said, "Come here kitty."

Ranma twisted his kitten head to the side and approached cautiously only to be picked up by Nabiki before she again laid back and sat the cat on her t-shirt covered stomach only to begin absently petting him. "It's late Ranma. We might as well get some sleep."

Ranma meowed an inquisitive meow, but it didn't take long for her gentle petting to lull him back to sleep. His last thought before sleep was that this felt really nice.

Nabiki wondered just what was getting into her. She was acting like Akane with the pig. No, thats not true, since she knew who the cat really was and Ranma knew that she knew. Normally her mind would have gone over so many more things before sleep, but the calming action of petting the cat brought peace to her mind and she was fast asleep.

* * *

Ranma cat woke to the smell of food. This was not unusual, other than there seemed to be something pressing down on him and his body felt odd. As his brain began to approach the activity level of his stomach he became aware of the events of last night. Had he been human, a full body blush would have ensued as he realized just why where he was sleeping was so comfortable and warm. Fortunately being a cat has some advantages, but he couldn't quite figure out how to get out from Nabiki's hold without waking up the short haired girl. Worse, the food smelled so very good. It was a horrible dilemma for the martial artist cat. 

"Nabiki, breakfast is ready."

Ranma let out a brief sigh or rather meow of relief. Nabiki would wake up soon and he could get breakfast.

Nabiki remained immobile while Ranma cat's hunger grew. Ranma was getting frantic. Whoever heard of someone not getting up for breakfast? Meals were important things, and you musn't miss any of them. Ranma examined her with his aura sight. It didn't work well due to himself being a cat and the fact they he was too close to see everything. Still she seemed to just be in a sound sleep. It was most puzzling and breakfast was smelling really really good. Ranma mused it must be because his sense of smell was so much better as a cat. Actually now that he thought about it, Nabiki had a very pleasant smell. It seemed she did wear a little perfume, but not enough that you ordinarily noticed it, unless like Ranma you were rather close. Ranma dared not let himself think too much on how nice the middle Tendo sister smelled. Fortunately, Shampoo had given him ample practice at ignoring beautiful women. He shuddered to think what would have happened had he ever slipped and pushed himself away from his so called wife in the most obvious way. No, he had way too much trouble as is, and well what if his pop was down there eating his food? Ranma noted that the tricks he used to distract himself were less than stellarly effective with where he was lying.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Ranma jumped, or rather tried to. _Was there a fire or some disaster? Just what was the alarm for?_ All he succeeded in doing was moving Nabiki's hands up in the air a bit.

Nabiki stirred. _Curse the fool who invented those infernal machines!_ She rolled over and tried to smack the snooze button only to notice a furry lump under her.

"Meooooooww!"

Nabiki smacked the button and then rolled back to see what was going on. "Oh, hello Ranma."

Ranma cat gave her a dirty look before jumping down and running to the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too Nabiki," said Nabiki sarcastically. _Ah well, I suppose I did kind of roll over on the little guy._

* * *

Breakfast was good, and thanks to the stern looks Kasumi gave Genma, Ranma was able to eat as much as he wanted. Of course he still didn't really like being a cat, but he found if he didn't think about it too much it was okay. He supposed he should thank his grandmother for that, but he still didn't like the cost. 

Nabiki and Akane went to school as normal leaving Ranma cat there with Genma, Soun, and Kasumi although that situation didn't last long as Soun and Genma went off to search for the groom, or that was what they said anyway. Kasumi rather expected they would be searching local taverns again.

Kasumi decided to take a break. She picked up the cat and sat down in the sun shining on the back porch facing the koi pond. She loved how the sun would caress her face. It made her feel more alive. Ranma cat looked up at the strange woman and wondered what happened to the Kasumi he knew. This one was somber and perhaps a bit sad, yet just earlier she had a smile on her face. He could remember doing this before from his Neko self's memories, but despite how hard he searched his memories he couldn't remember what anyone had said during that time period.

"So neko, do you think the chaos will ever end? I have waited so long to follow my own dreams, yet it seems mommy shall have to be around for awhile longer." She said mommy in a slightly sarcastic tone, yet otherwise her voice was soft. Ranma had never heard Kasumi speak in either tone before. The soft tone seemed so wistful. Kasumi continued, "I don't understand it sometimes. Akane seemed to be doing so much better for awhile after Ranma came and yet now it seems that nothing will ever change. And what are we going to do with you neko-chan? I hope Ranma will be able to come back someday, yet here I am petting his greatest fear. Genma no baka. Ranma is such a character. So very very proud. Do you know the baka once proposed to Shampoo just because he couldn't stand to think that there was a woman that wasn't in love with him?"

Ranma looked up at Kasumi questioningly. "Are you getting bored with my monologue again neko-chan? Well, it is an old story I suppose." Kasumi sighed. Ranma cat meowed. "You're just so cute neko-chan." Kasumi smiled. "Let's go take a bath. It will be fun."

Ranma meowed, and jumped out of her arms and ran outside.

"Neko-chan never wants to take a bath with me." Kasumi sighed and went to get cleaned up.

* * *

An hour later when Kasumi finished her bath and some chores she went to look for neko-chan only to find him up in the tree in the yard. 

"Did you get yourself stuck?" Ranma cat meowed. "Hold on a bit and I'll get a ladder."

Ranma was now officially embarrassed. _Some great martial artist I am, having to have help to get out of a tree. How was I supposed to know that cat claws really weren't as suited for going down?_ Ranma had considered jumping, but he knew this body didn't have the toughness of either of his normal forms and it was quite high up for a cat.

Soon enough Kasumi had placed the wooden ladder below the branch when a drunken Soun and Genma, in Panda form, could be heard trapsing through the gate.

The drunken panda bear held up a sign saying, "Is that mongrel still around here?" He flipped the sign around. "You should get rid him." His handwriting was even worse than usual, but then from the sake smell that was no great suprise.

"Well I suppose I could help Nabiki find a place for him to live, but then Akane would have to cook dinner."

"No, thatsss alright daughter. Cat is fines. Do you needs helps gettings him downnn?"

"No father."

* * *

Nabiki and Akane came home a short time later. Ranma watched them approach via the window sill. It seemed odd that Akane seemed fairly normal when he knew she was not, or at least he thought he knew it. _I suppose the fake her is almost normal except for the odd way she thinks of men and me in particular. I just wish my grandmother and her mother didn't want me to kill this artificial Akane. No, what I really wish, was for some alternative that didn't have the real her continuing to suffer. It figures the only solutions I can see are bad solutions. It's the story of my life. Then there is the Amazon mess. I don't know what they will do, although it is very tempting to use a little of what I learned to fix that problem._

"N-chan. There you are. Where were you last night? Mommy was looking for you. I know I'll take you in and fix you some food." said Enaka. Akane, who was trapped inside, groaned mentally at her pseudo self before she got a very close look at the cat. _Is that intelligence in the cat's eyes? Perhaps there is hope._

Ranma neko jumped into his nearest hope for salvation which just happened to be Nabiki's hands. _That was close. I just hope when she is cured she can cook better or at least less often._

Nabiki smirked faintly, "Well it seems you only have a way with pigs, dear sister."

Enaka harrumphed and stalked off.

* * *

After dinner Nabiki and Ranma cat went up to her room. 

"So what am I to do with you?" asked the middle Tendo sister.

Ranma jumped up on her desk, but her computer was off. He tapped a few keys as if to indicate what he wanted. Ranma really had no idea where the on button was hidden, and could barely type on the thing, even when he was human.

Nabiki flipped the system on and opened up a simple text editor.

Ranma cat tapped out on the keyboard, "Why am I a cat?"

"5000 yen."

Ranma just stared at the mercenary Tendo.

"Oh, okay. Well you were kind of out of it with whatever Shampoo and that nut Kodachi gave you. You seemed to be trapped in the Nekoken. Nothing would get you out, and Mouse thought that Cologne might be perfectly happy to haul off a Nekofied you for breeding purposes. Hiding you as a cat, since you were acting like one, seemed like a good idea at the time."

Ranma meowed, then in frustration typed out, "Um. Thanks, I think."

Ranma continued to stare at the middle Tendo sister. He tried to reconcile how she usually acted to the fact that she had looked out for him, even if in a way he didn't much like. Then there was last night. _I slept there. Well there was a t-shirt, but if it was Akane and she knew I'd have been pounded. No, thats not right. That is not Akane either, although P-chan may be in trouble one day soon. At least Akane had an excuse for being clueless, but p-chan has no such thing._

"Well?"

Ranma looked up as the question from Nabiki broke into his thoughts. _Well?_

"Are you going to tell me why you are walking around as a cat and aren't affected anymore? For that matter, why did you remember this time?"

Ranma almost wished for a cat toy, but the, "I'm just a panda." never worked for his dad either. Ranma pondered for a few moments more and then typed, "If it probably meant keeping your family safer, would you keep it a secret?" Ranma knew, or thought he knew anyway, that she would, but he wanted her to say it. She always seemed to try to keep her word. It was just rare for her to ever give it.

Nabiki wondered what Ranma must think of her, then again he could just be being careful for a change. "I may not like a lot of Akane's crap lately, or father's for that matter, but I wouldn't see any member of my family harmed if it could be avoided. Of course, I don't really consider the panda or Happosai as part of my family."

Ranma cat nodded and then went over most of what had happened to him, leaving out only the potential of what he had learned. Nabiki knew that he could heal her sister and that was enough. The whole thing took till well past Nabiki's normal bedtime, since Ranma's typing skills as a cat were pretty bad, and Nabiki had so many questions. At first she didn't believe that Ranma had really met her mother, but after a very detailed description and some of the things he knew she believed, and that was perhaps the scariest thing of all to the middle Tendo daughter, for if the afterlife was real and she really would have to answer for her life...

Nabiki yawned and put the disturbing thoughts out of her mind for now. "Come on Ranma, you can sleep next to me for one more night."

Ranma typed out, "Why? I thought you knew about p-chan."

Nabiki took on a patient tone as if explaining the obvious to the clueless, "I only just learned about p-chan not long ago, and that problem has been taken care of." Ranma shivered a bit at the coldness in her voice at that moment and decided not to ask for now. "You, have never tried to take advantage of your curse. If you're wondering, no I'm not desperately in love with you or anything, it just was nice is all. Okay?"

Ranma meowed as if in apology and jumped over to the bed as Nabiki turned the computer off.

A couple minutes passed before Nabiki picked the cat up and placed him on her t-shirt covered stomach and began absently petting him. It didn't feel as good as it did last night though. Ranma could sense that Nabiki was still upset over what he had asked. He decided for once that one of his idiot father's techniques was appropriate. He hopped out of her grip for a second and then made sure she was watching him in the moonlit room. He then proceeded to do the crouch of the wild tiger as only a cat could. Before long Nabiki broke out in giggles and not long after that the pair was sound asleep. The last thought that Ranma had before sleep was to remember that when Nabiki was excluding who she didn't consider part of the family, she didn't exclude him.

Author's Notes: Well not a huge amount happened this chapter but the story goes, to an extent, where it wants to go. I originally hadn't overly thought about what would happen if Ranma was stuck as a cat for a couple days. It just seemed likely that Ranma couldn't be lucky enough to have the soap wear off exactly when he wanted it to. I think this chapter, while transitory in nature, still colored in details that were useful for the overall tapestry. To think, I actually thought I'd be done with this by now. There is probably at least two more chapters. I rather suspect my characters are a bit OOC, but I hope that there is enough kernels of the originals that people can appreciate the characters.

A special thanks goes to J. St.C. Patrick for giving this chapter a look over. In future, if anyone wishes to preread specific stories before they are posted here, they should send me an email through the address that can be found via fanfiction DOT net with which stories they are interested in. People are also welcome to suggest ideas for something for me to work on next in my reviews.

I know I have been somewhat negative lately in story reviews that use Akane the Ogre, Yakuza Nabiki, and other such over the top fannon character trends, which is partly why I'm working on a chapter of Falling for a Princess, centered, at least in part, around Ryoga and Akane. I won't promise to be entirely nice to them, but hopefully most will consider it fair.

At any rate, let me know what you think.

* * *

2005-06-21 


	9. To Free a Tomboy

**To Free a Tomboy**

Kitten's Hope  
by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. This piece of work is purely for entertainment purposes.

* * *

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" 

Neko Ranma unconsciously sunk his claws a little into Nabiki in reaction to the violent noise.

"Ouch!" She glanced down and saw the culprit and pulled him off her. "Ungrateful baka!"

Neko Ranma yawned and, after realizing what was going on, meowed quietly.

"Ya, ya, don't try to sweet talk me. Just keep those claws to yourself."

Ranma let out a plaintive meow.

"Oh come on." She picked up Neko Ranma and walked into the bathroom and tossed the still not fully awake cat into the furo producing one very wet and annoyed cat that was cat paddling for his life. Worse, the sides of the tub were high enough that Ranma couldn't seem to get his footing while swimming. In short, Ranma looked like he was in serious danger of creating a spring of drowned Ranma cat.

"There, that should teach you not to scratch me."

Ranma cat flicked hot water into Nabiki's face with his tail.

"Why you!"

Nabiki stepped quickly over to the furo in her effort to seek revenge. As she reached out to grab the drenched furball, her house slippers slipped on the water that neko Ranma had just splashed at her. She tried to stop her fall, but her hands just hit cat briefly before slipping into the water with her body quickly following. Her nightgown billowed around her briefly before becoming soaked with water and clinging to her skin. As she fell, her head glanced off the other side of the furo momentarily stunning her.

She sank into the water as neko Ranma swam back to the surface and looked on. Crap. What the heck am I going to do? I can't lift her out like this. If she doesn't wake up soon. Ranma meowed loudly as she struggled to think of what to do. The drain plug! Ranma neko held his breath and jumped down into the water. Ranma briefly wished he had been the one to empty the furo more often. It has to be around here somewhere. The hot water made it difficult to keep his eyes open as he swam and felt for it. A paw felt the little ring, but couldn't get a hold of it. Ranma swam and got the ring in his mouth and started to pull just as a hand closed around his side pulling him up. The plug came out and the water began exiting as Ranma let go of the plug and was pulled to the surface to see Nabiki holding him.

"Trying to be the hero again huh?" After setting Ranma on a ledge she reached down and put the plug back in place.

"Meow!" came an irritated Ranma. It wasn't often that the person to be rescued saved herself, especially after he went through all that effort. Ranma stood up and shook the water from himself, incidentally splashing Nabiki again.

"You don't learn do you?" came Nabiki's coy voice. Nabiki had completely forgotten about the effects of water on thin material as she picked up the bedraggled cat and held him out in front of her. As Ranma's legs dangled in the water suddenly there was so much more of him and she could feel his naked form weighing her down.

She enjoyed the sensations for a moment and suddenly it was gone. Such was his speed to leave the tub that several gallons of water were pulled with him and ran into the floor drain. He grabbed a towel and crouched down keeping turned away from her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not my fault!"

Nabiki's silvery laugh filled the bathroom. Had the walls not been reinforced and thicker than any sane wall should be, the noises might have been noticed. Fortunately, in Nerima, fallout shelter grade walls were available at a discount, and the Tendo house had seen many upgrades in the past couple years. She grinned and said in an amused tone, "You can stop waiting to be hit now. I seldom stoop to such simple measures, and you are going to help Akane.." The last was said in a wistful hope filled tone. The brown haired beauty took stock of how the nightgown clung to her wet body.

"I, I just.." Ranma was struggling not to say anything to make this situation worse, which in his case seemed to mean not saying anything.

"I know. Just stay turned around, I'll go get you some clothing in a bit and whatever you do, don't tell anyone. I frankly don't want to see any priests anytime soon."

Ranma gulped. "You got that right..."

Normally one was supposed to wash before entering the furo, but Nabiki's entrance was hardly planned. She took her robe off while keeping glancing at the pig tailed boy's partially towel covered behind. She then wrung most of the water out of her nightgown and tossed it in the hamper. Nabiki pondered getting out and washing off properly, but there wasn't time and she didn't think accidentally giving Ranma another free show was a good idea. A wash cloth snagged from a nearby counter allowed her to quickly clean herself off, but she didn't dare use soap, lest the furo get all soapy and cause questions to be asked.

Before long Nabiki had washed off as best as she could and left with an over-sized towel wrapped around her. She came back in and kept her eyes away from where Ranma was, although she kept looking for reflective surfaces out of the corner of her eye. She was dressed in her usual t-shit and cut off shorts and was carrying a set of dark gray draw string sweat pants, panties, sports bra, cloth tennis shoes, and a sky blue t-shirt. "Sorry, I didn't want to risk getting stuff from your room. The panda is sleeping in."

Ranma was looking at her and the clothing she had. "A bra, panties? I'm a guy."

"Not if you want this clothing to fit you aren't." She tossed the bundle in his direction without looking directly at him. He reached out and snatched it out of the air and set it down on the counter. A quick splash of cold water, and a towel made him properly gendered to handle Nabiki's clothing. She looked at the sports bra dubiously. It would hardly be the first time she had worn one, but she didn't like it. No, that wasn't true, she did like the silly things, since they kept things from moving so much and allowed her to fight with fewer distractions. What she didn't like was being so dang vulnerable to water. Ah well, at least this one looks like it might not be too noticeable if I do get hit with hot water.

Ranma finished dressing. The clothing fit better than she expected. She thought perhaps Nabiki had outgrown it. Still the shoes would have been useless if they didn't tighten up so much when he pulled the strings. "I'm dressed although I still think it would have been better to go get my normal clothes."

"I don't want anyone to know your back. This thing you have to do with Akane. I suspect it is better if your not interrupted during it right?"

"Well yes, considering I'll be pretty much defenseless during it..."

"Okay. There is not a lot of time, but here is the plan. You vanish until after school. Just find us after school without being seen. I'll find someplace quiet you can work somehow."

"Nabiki.."

Here is some money. Just get out of Nerima without being seen until later today. Ranma nodded and pulled an over-sized brown towel out of the rack and wrapped it around himself. He then suppressed his normal ki to almost nothing and formed the complex ki structure around himself that was the umisenken. The effect wasn't perfect, yet Nabiki felt her eyes wanting to slide off the vague blur, and she had been watching it.

* * *

Ranma yawned and glanced again at his new clothing. The dark blue cotton, button up, long sleeve shirt and blue jeans he had bought went well together although he was forced to buy pants one size larger to get enough flexibility to fight in. The sandals he was able to afford would be challenging to fight in, yet if the worst occurred he could simply go bare foot. Regardless, it was good to be back in the body he was born with, even if the quality of his lunch had suffered due to running out of money. 

Still, so many questions remained. What he knew could so easily solve his problems, yet there was little honor in brainwashing, even if it would be so simple, so very simple to make the Amazons forget about him, or get his father to try to atone for his messes. The temptation was there, yet he knew, like his father's so called sealed moves that some temptations must be resisted. The umisenken's cloaking skill was the only one he used, and even then he tried to avoid using it in front of any other martial artists. The nature of the move made it difficult to understand simply by observing it, but there seemed little reason to take chances. No, he would heal Akane and that would be the end of it.

Ranma faded into view in the shadows of a building a few blocks from Furinken. They would be coming soon. He walked towards the path he knew they would take.

Shampoo glanced left. Great Grandmother had been right to teach her how to detect that stealth trick Ranma knew. It seemed the Panda wasn't a total fool after all. Still, while detecting it while in use was difficult unless you had some idea where to look, it did turn out that detecting it during the brief moment of hiding or revealing oneself was much easier. You could feel it as a small pop in the ki energy of the surrounding environment, well provided you were within a few hundred feet of it anyway.

Shampoo remembered the events leading up to today.

* * *

Shampoo, get your mangy furball down here. 

Shampoo walked down, attempting to feign being more calm than she truly was. "Yes, Great Grandmother?"

"What is this?" Cologne held up a hand blown dark blue bottle that looked like it had some kind of powder on the inside.

"Aiyaa. Shampoo not know." She put on her sweetest expression and grinned.

Whack "Wrong answer! I've half a mind to make you marry Mousse as punishment for your stupidity."

"Sorry great grandmother. I was so sure it would work..."

"That is the other thing that troubles me. Son in law is very strong willed, but that would only delay things slightly with this stuff, and yet it failed and he is gone somewhere. Do you know where?"

Shampoo sighed. "No great grandmother. Shampoo not know. Shampoo looked, but could find no sign of Airen."

Cologne hopped up on a chair and frowned. She was sure she would have known had Ranma made a break for it. Well at least that particular piece of magic would have only made Ranma's lust insane with respect to the first woman he saw afterward, which was definitely Shampoo, so that wasn't a problem, but where was the boy? She grimaced. "It seems I can no longer wait. Shampoo, first of all cut the bimbo act. Your making a fool of your Amazon heritage."

"Yes great grandmother."

Cologne eyed her great granddaughter for a moment momentarily tight her hand on her walking stick before nodding minutely to herself. Sometimes you had to work with the heir you had, rather than the heir you might have wanted. She continued, "You know of the techniques Genma made?" Shampoo nodded. "They are quite clever actually, flawed, but clever nonetheless."

"I thought Airen's father sealed those techniques. Flawed? How so?"

"Ranma is amazing in having the ki mastery to perform the techniques so young. It is not really that the techniques are flawed, but their underlying understanding of ki is flawed. It is not unusual for men to see the obvious and to miss the subtle." She again grimaced. "Of course if my great granddaughter had been paying more attention she would have figured out a great many things."

"Great Grandmother?"

"You just think on that." She fetched a small book from a fold in her robe and handed it to her. "Study this, and tell no one of it. It was written by my mother Xian who you were named after. It is her journal into understanding ki manipulation. I do not think Ranma would use any of the more dangerous techniques of Genma, which is a good thing. He may, however, be using the cloaking one, which is what we are concerned with. You will read and learn the contents of the book. It should help you detect him, if he is using that trick. You will also apologize to him."

"Great Grandmother?..."

"Don't you great grandmother me. You screwed up, again. Somehow your last cheap trick to get Ranma with magic has chased him off. You fail to get it through your blue haired head that Ranma, while male, is not stupid. Heck he has a female Jusenkyo curse. Do you not think he would have figured out such tricks?" Cologne got a grip on her anger at her great granddaughters stupidity. "You will apologize. You will learn the contents of that book and you will keep that knowledge as secret as possible. The only exception I grant you, is you may teach Ranma enough to correct his understanding of ki. Normally the flaw in his learning would not cause any major problems but Ranma uses a very great deal of ki. Without that knowledge he risks unbalancing his spirit enough to cause his death in a few years. If you don't screw this up again, you might get him to trust you."

"Aiyaa." Shampoo paused for a moment and then continued. "What about the secret techniques?"

"What about them? They are Ranma's secrets. You have no need of such dangerous toys. Learn what is in the book and stop acting like a dumb male." Cologne shook her head in disgust, whether for her heir or her own loss of patience she did not know.

* * *

Shampoo was glad she was on her way back from a delivery. It had been a long day, and Mousse was useless since Cologne had knocked him unconscious after he mistakingly glomped her. That meant she was stuck doing all the work and she was getting tired. Suddenly she felt the disturbance she knew must have been the Umisenken being dropped and looked down from the bridge she was on to see Ranma appear in the distance. 

She road her bike along the railing on the edge of the bridge before jumping it off, and, for once, made sure to land beside Ranma. She jumped off her bike and glomped onto him. "Ranma. Shampoo glad you back!" Cologne's words saying not to act like a bimbo echoed through her head, and Shampoo successfully resisted the impulse to say airen. She then forced herself to let go.

"Shampoo? What are you doing here?" Ranma's first impulse was not to believe his luck. His second impulse was to remember who's luck he was refusing to believe. Ranma fidgeted. He did not have time for this.

"Shampoo come looking for Airen." Shampoo grimaced slightly at her slip and got down on her knees. "Shampoo sorry for what she did to you."

Ranma blinked. He wasn't gone that long. Just what had caused this? He replayed her words over in his head. Someone put her up to this. It is the only explanation. It almost sounds like pop when he does the crouch of the wild tiger. It didn't occur to Ranma that this level of thinking was something almost alien to him. All that talking to the Tendo's mother had helped, if only a little.

"Um, its okay Shampoo. Well not really okay, but, um, I gotta go okay?" Ranma fidgeted.

"But I just found you." Shampoo said petulantly.

"Look over there, is that Mousse?"

Shampoo looked over and then felt the disturbance that indicated the Umisenken being activated and Ranma was gone. "Stupid Airen." and softer, "Stupid Shampoo."

Ranma ran several blocks down the street under the Umisenken and spotted Akane and Nabiki turning a corner. Seeing this was about his best shot he pressed a pressure point on Akane's neck sending Akane into dreamland. He then dropped the ki cloak and grabbed her before she could fall.

"Ranma! You about scared me to death! Just what the heck do you think your doing?" Nabiki's voice was biting, yet, amazingly, did not carry far.

"Um, Sorry. Look Shampoo saw me, and she is not far behind, so if you have someplace for us to go, we had better get there.

"Great Saotome." She fished a set of keys out of her purse with an oddly large keyring. "You know the motel about a dozen blocks north from here?"

"Ya."

"Good. The room number is on the keys. I'll be there as soon as I can. I trust you can do that thing again?"

"Actually yes. It is almost impossible to do with someone awake, but, fortunately, she isn't."

* * *

Shampoo again felt the disturbance of the Umisenken being started, but when she arrived she only saw Nabiki walking somewhere roughly northeast towards a cluster of restaurants. She dropped down in front of her. "Where Airen?" 

"You know, you do have a bit of nerve. Between your stuff and whatever Kodachi gave him, from what we can tell, Ranma went crazy and ran away. So if you want to know where Ranma went, maybe you should ask Kodachi for her recipe. If you mix them both together then maybe you will go to the same place." said Nabiki sweetly.

"Mercenary girl need to learn her place. Perhaps Shampoo teach?" She fetched her bombori out of stuff space and advanced on Nabiki with a predatory look.

Nabiki was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had gone too far. It was always a mistake to let them see your anger, especially when you were anything but sure about winning if things didn't go your way. Shampoo advanced on her and swung down towards where Nabiki's head was. Nabiki twisted to the side just missing the deadly implement. Her arms crossed and she seemed to squeeze something in her left sleeve. "Do you want to know what happens if I'm hurt?" Nabiki forced her voice to stay calm as she again dodged, a strike that was closer than she would have liked.

"What? Money girl?"

"A certain envelope containing" She fell into a roll and then jumped back up to avoid the next swing. "detailed records of all the drugs and crap you have done to people will arrive at both the local police department" She dodged again and cursed her own stupidity internally. "and the Chinese embassy. I should think the Chinese government" She leaned back and felt where the annoyingly heavy maces just grazed her breasts. "might want to make an example out of your little village to clean up that mess." She stepped back. "Yes I can imagine the chinese government would be most annoyed at a little upstart village causing an international incident." Yep, Nabiki said to herself, "I screwed up and there is no Ranma around." She dodged, twisted, and swerved around the bombori. She thought about taking the offensive, yet it was all she could do to just avoid the dang things. The girl was good and her own practice was just so she could get out of these messes.

"Mercenary girl is better than Pervert girl." A grudging amount of respect entered the Amazons voice when she said that. She was so wrapped up in what she was doing that she didn't notice a police officer sneak up near her and fire a tazer at her, which just goes to show that 3000 years of Amazon techniques don't do a lot of good if you don't watch your back. He quickly cuffed her hands behind her back, and then her feet, and then ran a strap between the two sets of cuffs. It seemed cruel, but this girl was too strong to take any risks with.

"Dang it Ken? Could you have waited any longer? She was about to take my head off!"

"Hey, I floored it to get here this soon. I think this little thing makes us even. Just be glad I was so close since I'm the only one with a receiver that is listening for that panic button. Since I saw you were only dodging and she had the weapons the case should be fairly simple. I should think she will be deported and end up the Chinese government's problem."

Nabiki smiled. "Just remember she knows the breaking point."

"Thanks to you, we are ready if any of the Nerima martial arts goes off the deep end, although I pray that never happens."

Nabiki nodded and gave him one of her true smiles. It conveyed gratitude and thanks that seemed such rare emotions for the middle Tendo daughter.

From atop a nearby building Cologne watched having been drawn out by the feel of her great granddaughter's battle aura and Nabiki's of all things. It was the first time she had even sensed that much energy from Nabiki. The cop picked up Shampoo and carried her into the back of his car and drove off. Nabiki had started to walk northeast again when Cologne hopped down. "Just what the hell was that about?"

Nabiki kept a neutral mask on her face. "What do you mean? Your great granddaughter tried to kill me."

"You know what I'm talking about. If you could get the Chinese government to get rid of us, you would have done it a long time ago."

"And risk making you an enemy?"

"Then what?"

"Hey, I was just trying to scare her into backing off. What you guys do is your problem, as long as it doesn't hurt my family. If you hurry you might be able to keep things from getting worse with the police."

Cologne grimaced. "Just remember if my tribe is hurt because of you..."

Nabiki gulped. Dang you Saotome. All this because I was irritated with Shampoo and snapped at her to try to get rid of her. "Of course." She forced her voice to remain level. "Just also remember that should me or my family be harmed there will be repercussions. I have made sure of that." Privately Nabiki wasn't sure any of her plans would actually work, but well it always payed to appear confident, especially when you weren't. Nabiki sighed when Cologne hopped off towards the police station. Nabiki resumed walking, confidence exuding from her bearing, but the effect was dimmed a few minutes later when she tripped on a rock she had failed to notice.

After awhile Nabiki glanced back and was relieved not to see Cologne. Of course that didn't mean much, but it was the best she could do. She sat down on a bench and waited for the bus to come. This was hardly a direct route, yet it should only be a little slower, and sometimes it paid to avoid direct routes. Her body ached, but her clothes were at least hiding the bruising, even if the shirt was damp from sweat.

* * *

Nabiki yawned as she walked up the final steps and down the landing. She knocked on a simple blue door which was rapidly followed by Ranma letting her in. Akane was lying down on the bed seemingly sleeping peacefully. 

"What took you so long?"

"I ran into Shampoo and got into a fight okay?"

"You fought Shampoo?" Incredulity laced his words as he spoke.

"Fought, well more like a lot of dodging, a few minor hits, and getting lucky that my cop friend and his tazer got there soon enough."

"Jeez, are you okay?"

"Yes, I said it didn't I? Look shouldn't we get this done?"

"We can't now. I was counting on you to stay awake and alert if anything went wrong. Right now you are exhausted."

"But what about Akane? Won't she wake up soon?"

"No, I gave her some sleeping pills I picked up earlier today. I only had enough for one does, but she will sleep probably five or six hours yet, well as long as it is quiet."

"Oh. Well then what?"

"Just a second." He went in the bathroom and ran a cool wet washcloth across his, now her face. He then sat down with his back leaning against the bed. "Come here."

"Huh? What are you planning?"

"Just come here, or don't you trust me?" Ranma said in her most innocent smile.

Nabiki sighed, sat down and leaned into Ranma-chan as she directed. It was a bit awkward considering Ranma was the smaller girl, but Nabiki seemed comfortable. A soft white glow formed around Ranma and extended to lightly cover Nabiki.

Nabiki felt so warm and oddly content. "What are you doing?"

"A ki healing technique I learned some time ago although I just barely have enough control to extend it to another."

Nabiki felt so content. She just wanted to rest here. Just for a few moments. "But won't that make..." She never got to finish her sentence as sleep claimed her.

"Rest Nabiki. Your injuries are minor, so no it will not make me too tired." He said this as she too nodded off, but not before telling his body to wake up in a few hours. As he fell asleep the light dimmed and vanished.

* * *

Nabiki yawned and stretched and then noticed her odd sleeping position. She then stretched again and a look of surprise graced her face as she noticed that all the pain was gone. Ranma was awakened by Nabiki's stirring and yawned in her own irritatingly cute way. Ranma really hated when he noticed things like that about his female form, but thankfully no one was paying enough attention to remember. 

"Hey Saotome. It worked. I feel great."

"Great, now if you will move I need to..."

"Bathroom?" Nabiki moved aside and was answered by the breeze that moved passed her on the way to the bathroom. A short time later Ranma returned, still female. "Why are you still female. Come to think of it, why did you splash yourself before?"

"Oh that? Well it is just far easier to use that trick on someone of the same gender. The same as it will be a little easier with Akane although, in that case, it matters less.

"Well if you ever want to sell that trick."

"No way. As it is you may feel a little of what I feel and visa versa for a month or so. Healing your minor injuries was about my limit anyway, at least for healing someone other than oneself."

"Oh."

"We had better begin."

"So what do I do anyway?"

"You stay awake as best you can and keep an eye on things. If we are out cold for more than say 12 hours, try to give us something to drink slowly. If we are not awake by the time 24 hours passes, then get Dr. Tofu and only Dr. Tofu. He might be able to do something."

"You didn't say this was dangerous before.."

"Dangerous? Probably not, but peoples minds are worlds in themselves. At the very least it shouldn't be dangerous to you, and the danger to Akane should be fairly low as long as I avoid anything stupid."

Nabiki grimaced, but she had come this far. Still, what she had not said was less than comforting. Given her improved behavior perhaps she truly was healed, or perhaps they helped her out a bit more than she knows or said. It didn't matter. Still, given that earlier mess with Shampoo, the thought of getting a bit of training from Ranma after this seemed a good idea. She was fairly sure she could deflect Shampoo, but the easiest way was to deflect her anger to Ranma and that was something she was hesitant to do, now. Perhaps she could hang out with Ukyo some more as well...

Ranma, drank half a glass of water and carefully slipped in behind Akane being very careful not to wake her. She reached out with her senses and felt for the ki of the middle Tendo girl. That encounter with Shampoo had definitely rattled the girl and she somehow knew that wasn't over. For now though, it was time to do what their mother had asked. She hoped she could find another way.

She focused on the core of her being and split the essence that made her who she was into two bundles connected by a fine astral strand. The lesser kept her alive and gave her an anchor. The greater she let settle into Akane and willed the linkage to happen. As it happened the world faded to black. Nabiki looked on in concern, "Don't screw this up Ranma." Her words seemed angry, yet the tone seemed pleading.

* * *

Ranma's consciousness awoke in darkness. She remembered forcing her way through the shell that called itself Akane. It was difficult, but at least the shell was rigid, and that allowed her to flow through the weak points, if slower than she would have liked. She reached out with her senses and felt for what had to be here and was shocked when she found it. 

She broke into a run, and in only minutes reached a simple stream by which sat a blue haired girl he knew to be Akane. The sky was dark and almost starless. A pale moon lit them in moon shadows among the few autumn trees. She wondered briefly about the blue hair, but ignored it as unimportant. She wore a white gi that seemed to be gray with ages of use. Her body seemed gaunt and malnourished. Even the few trees around seemed to be fading. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head down starring off into the slow moving stream. Ranma briefly cursed her own incompetence in causing part of this. She walked up to within about ten feet of her and said, "Hey? Are you alright?"

Akane's head shot up. Ranma unexpectedly shifted from a woman to a man. Her eyes focused on him as she jumped up and glomped him with all her might. She seemed so weak to him.

"Your here. Your really here. I'm not alone. Not alone. Not alone.. Not alone.." She kept pulling him to her.

"Yes, and I made a promise. We will free you."

"Really? You can do it? Oh please, please, please, please."

Ranma wanted to weep at the injustice of it all. It was fortunate that time in here could pass much faster than in the real world. This was not going to be easy, nor quick. "Will you trust me?"

Akane pushed him back a little and looked into his eyes and nodded. She had observed him for so long, and trusting him, of all people came easy. Ranma stepped away from her and walked over to a tree and sat down with his back facing the tree and with the stream in front of him. Once again he wondered why he was a guy now, but realized it was how Akane wanted him to be, and in this place that was nearly all that mattered. He motioned her to join him by waving his hand and smiling. She smiled back, the gauntness of her pseudo body here seemed to make that smile more precious. She walked over and sat down leaning back into him as he seemed to want. "What now?"

"For now, just rest. You are tired. I will keep you safe while you rest. When you are rested we will begin." Akane nodded, somehow feeling safer just being in his arms. Ranma glowed a soft blue white, much like he did when he held Nabiki before, yet now it was more intense and seemed to drive the shadows away from this little corner of mental real estate. Akane drifted off into sleep. "Sleep tomboy. I will be here." He mused that his resolve to avoid calling her tomboy didn't seem to hold. He once again considered his choices.

* * *

"What will I do to heal her?" 

"I do not know everything, or even what state you shall find my youngest daughter, but ultimately the contamination that has enveloped her must be destroyed. You must do that at minimum."

"There is something you are not telling me.."

"You resist in killing, even to preserve the greater whole. That is good, but for my daughters sake, I beg you to do the job right. The other thing that worries me is my daughters time spent in darkness. Can she ever truly recover from that? No, I was wondering if it would be best..."

"You want me to steal her memories from her!"

"Would you really want to live with those memories?"

Ranma had no answer to that, or at least none he was willing to voice.

* * *

Ranma continued to give his energy freely to Akane. He knew what her mother wanted, and this was the time he planned to do it, but something stopped him. An hour passed in his time frame and then a second before the glow dimmed. Akane's spiritual body still looked weak and frail, yet it was much improved. Ranma's own body seemed weaker but it required careful observation to notice the signs. He gently shook her. 

"Huh? What?" She turned around and prepared to smack whoever it was that had taken advantage of her while she slept, as she remembered and then let her arm drop.

"Good morning to you too." Ranma said in jest.

"Oh, sorry. Your really here, aren't you?" She got up and stood a few feet away from him.

"Yes, and I have a question that you must answer." Ranma told her of the time he spent with her mother's spirit and what she had been taught, but as with Nabiki he left out the details on the potential of the knowledge. She broke down in tears during it and he held her once more for almost an hour before it seemed appropriate to continue. "So you see, it is your choice. Unfortunately, it is only here that I can do something so delicate. I can do nothing, or I can simply try to make the memories of your time here less painful, or" He paused in his words here before continuing. "I can erase the memories of most of your time here completely. This would not be like Shampoo's trick. They will simply be gone."

"My mom wanted you to just do it, didn't she?"

"I believe so, although she never just came out and said it."

To be free, free of all the times living through that things eyes. It is so very tempting, yet they are my memories, and they are all I've had in such a long time. "No, thank you for asking, but they are all I had. I can't give them up." The thought of P-chan came to mind. "I want a promise from you though. No matter what happens you, will make sure P-chan doesn't..."

Ranma was a little surprised that she knew, although he realized that he shouldn't be. "I will. Ryoga will not use his curse to get in your bed again."

Akane nodded, seemingly satisfied by nothing more than his word. Akane knew that something as momentous as this should almost evoke more response, besides that bit earlier, but it all seemed so unreal, that a part of her almost refused to believe. "So, how do we get out of here?"

Ranma frowned. It came to what he wanted to avoid, but knew he could not. "Now, that is the hard part. You see the Akane Tendo everyone else knows is based on a part of you. It is like a cancer from what I know, twisted and tainted by magic, and as you know it is partly my fault."

"I don't blame you, at least not anymore."

"Thanks. Well there are two paths. The first, and what your mother asked me to do, and what I probably should do is to seek out and destroy the essence. In effect it will kill a part of you, yet spirits are resilient." He paused for a few seconds. "They killed the nekoken in me. Without even asking me the cat was killed. They were afraid I would do something stupid and absorb it in myself. They said without the tainted part, I would heal truly, and I think they were right."

"Ranma?" She stared at him for a bit and then asked, "and the other path?"

"I know how to shred the barrier that separates you two. It would then be possible, if you were trained, for you to do it."

"I'll do it!" Akane said fiercely.

Ranma wondered where the enthusiasm suddenly came from. "You do understand that, you will, in essence, be facing a part of yourself, twisted and perverted by magic and have to kill it. Are you sure? I can do the job. It is not something I will enjoy but to.."

Her voice became calm yet certain. "I'll do it. I want to do it. This way, I can finally beat it, even if you did have to help me. Please, I need to do this."

"If your sure. The first thing is to improve your fighting skills. Less time passes in here than in the real world. I told Nabiki to get Dr. Tofu if we were still asleep after 24 hours. That should give us about three days in here from our perspective, which is also about the limit of how long I can remain safely, so we better begin."

"Um, how are you going to teach me enough in three days?"

"You forget who your opponent is. Still, it won't be easy. Anger and rage can make a person fight much harder, and she will continue to have much of yours, at least till she is gone. Fortunately blind anger and rage also make one sloppy. You must win with skill and planning."

"Oh, um that still doesn't explain how..."

Ranma launched a relatively slow punch at her face. He almost thought he was going to have to pull it when she twisted aside.

"What the heck? I thought you were supposed to be teaching me!"

"The only way for you to learn enough in time is in actual combat. Since sleep really isn't too important here, and we have no real bodies, we are going to be busy." A sweep kick took her legs out from under her and Ranma waited and tried to avoid sighing when it became apparent that she was much worse than she was when they first met.

Dang that hurt. He's training me like his father must of him "Hey!"

"It is your choice. I can still do what must be done, or you can get up.."

Akane got up and threw a right cross towards Ranma's chest that he stepped aside of and gave her a push into the ground. "Again." Ranma hated this. He hated every punch he gave. He hated that he had half hoped she would choose this outcome, and felt shame that he was somehow failing her mother, failing his word.

The fighting continued with Ranma mechanically responding. It took little of his concentration to keep up with her, yet he could not entirely zone out either since he had to help her improve. He shook off his bout of self pity and focused. "Think about what your doing, and don't just react. That will come later, but for now you have to notice what you are doing wrong. No don't hit as hard as you can, that forces you to overextend and lose your balance." He once again dodged aside and added momentum to her causing her to tumble into the ground. Akane seemed to be focused now and not angry, something he would never have expected of her, but then he realized he had never gotten to know the true her, and being here had to have some effect. Was that a small smile? He wasn't sure.

The battle raged on and off for almost two days and Akane did improve more than Ranma would have ever guessed. She had actually had managed a few good hits on him, which surprised him a great deal. He particularly treasured the smiles on her face when she managed to hit him. They almost made the pain worth it. Still, the time for practice was over. It seemed the activity was draining both of their energies faster than he would have thought. Outwardly he smiled and said, "Congratulations Akane, you have done well. Are you ready now?"

Akane looked up through sweat soaked hair. She wondered what Ranma's trick was to avoid sweating but it didn't seem that important. She felt her bodies condition and nodded to herself. "Yes, I want to be me again."

She smiled at the last and it nearly took his breath away. She had truly done well. "It will take me awhile to break the barrier that separates you two and force her to face you here. In the end remember who's mind this is. Reality, such as it is, is somewhat in your control here." which he mused might explain why both of them had lost a noticeable quantity of energy. Her belief that they should be tired, was in opposition to his own knowledge that it was all mental. With that odd bit of advice he vanished.

* * *

Ranma finished shifting his focus to the larger mental landscape of Akane's mind. If you weren't careful here your mind would interact with the essence of the mental landscape and make you believe you were in a sort of virtual world based on the fake Akane's subconscious mind. He could not afford that. Realizing the falseness of such things here was the key to much of what he had learned since if you knew the true rules of a reality you could bend the universe to your will. Still, it was not his universe so the bending was not easy. The only good thing about this place was that the barrier also separated the fake her from him, making it impossible for her conscious mind to notice him, while it existed anyway. 

The damage here was extensive, and he supposed he should stop thinking of it as alive, but it was hard, when he had spent so much time with her. He had learned a simple truth from his pop of all things. If one gave into their negative thoughts and feelings, while suppressing some of the positive ones, then it was possible to do things you would not ordinarily do. Of course, in his fathers case, he seemed to have a near complete lack of positive ones, so perhaps the analogy wasn't too apt. It didn't matter. He suppressed his feelings for the Akane he could see. She, no it, was false, tainted, and twisted and had to be destroyed. He had promised this, and fully intended to keep this promise. He called forth his shame in placing the greater burden on Akane and causing much of this mess in the first place. It firmed his resolve. A flicker of a memory passed through his mind and he decided on the form. The nekoken was truly gone, yet, here, his will allowed him to mimic it. He focused and formed what looked like six inch ki claws, and then reduced them to a bare inch. He had promised another, after all, and Akane was waiting.

Ranma lost track of the time it took. The work was very hard since the separation was composed of such powerful magic and it had been there for some time. Cut after cut he let himself rage against the barrier, only holding onto enough of his focus to be sure to limit his destruction to the barrier. Finally he came to the last swipe and it was gone. A mental push kicked the pseudo Akane towards the fragment of mental landscape where the real Akane was located. Only one more thing to do and then, well best not to think of the future so much. The present was hard enough. He sighed and let himself shift to a place near where they would battle, but far enough away not to be noticed.

He once again tried to tell himself of the necessity of what he had done and what he was doing or rather not doing. It didn't help and he lightly embraced the soul of ice to distance his feelings from himself. He mused that it was little wonder that that particular skill was easy to learn. He had learned an instinctive form of it long ago out of necessity. It was what had help him cling to his sanity through the nekoken training and so much else.

* * *

Outside about half a day had passed and for all intents and purposes the pair was just sleeping, well if you could ignore the tension that seemed to be in their bodies. She would wait, and trust in them. She had little choice. "Be safe neechan. You too Ranma-kun." She took another bite of pizza and washed it down with a drink of Dr. Pepper and once more regretted that they did not deliver to the Dojo.

* * *

Author's Notes: First of all, a quick note of thanks to J. St.C. Patrick for some proofreading. Secondly, I was originally going to do the next part in this chapter, but, well this is already more than long enough for a chapter, and to be honest, this next part is going to be challenging to write, and I want to spend some time on it. I'd apologize for the slow writing, but well the combination of motivation occurring at the same time as free time seems to be rarer than is conducive to being a prolific writer. If you haven't already done so, so you might check out the stories Ozzallos wrote. The writing there is quite good, particularly in Ah My Ranma 1/2. I do not know the author. I just liked the stories when I read them a few days ago. 

Once upon a time I wrote I could wrap up this story in a chapter or two. Forget I said that. With what I just wrote the end is less than clear. I'd tend to say I still have at least two more chapters at this point.

As to what I'm going to write next, well your welcome to send suggestions, but all in all I'm going to resist making a prediction here since, I think if I do that I tend to put off writing till I get the motivation to work on a particular piece. As always, I'm curious what people think, and well, it is nice to see people reading my stories.

* * *


	10. The Battle for Self

**The Battle for Self**

Ranma couldn't help but feeling that this was a mistake. It felt like he could see the trains in the distance approach each other, inexorably drawn to the inevitable conclusion. Of course, the fact that he had shifted the trains onto the same track just made things worse somehow.

Enaka faded into view. Unlike Akane's old and faded gi, hers was crisp and pristine. Also her hair was its normal almost black color, compared to the bluing color Akane strangely had. "What is going on here? Who are you and why the heck do you look like me? I bet Ranma and Happosai made you for some perverted game of theirs! Well, I know how to handle perverts!" She brought forth a large wooden mallet out of nowhere and advanced on Akane.

Akane was stunned, not by the attack, but by how she was acting. This was what had pretended to be her for so long? She knew it had to be, but seeing it made it worse somehow. She ducked and swerved out of the way of the clumsy mallet attack. It was hardly an elegant move by Ranma's standards, but then, she mused, neither was her dodge. She briefly tried to summon her own mallet, but the rage just wasn't there. Oh she was angry, but the blinding rage she remembered from before just wasn't there and the mallet didn't form. She ducked and went into a roll when it became necessary to avoid another swing.

"What is the matter? Did Happosai not teach his toy how to defend itself?" Enaka said with a sneer. "Well I'll fix that. First I'll send you back to whatever perverted hell you came from, and then I'll go after Happosai and his little pet servant Ranma."

Ranma was caught be surprise. Did this thing really think that?

"Perverted hell?" She ducked, swerve, and a managed to get a foot into Enaka's chest causing her to go down in a tumble holding her chest. "Yes," Akane mused, "I suppose I was in a perverted hell, and I'm just about to end it!" Akane's smile was ferocious, no gleeful in its intensity. She kicked her again, moving her a half dozen feet along the ground. She then reach over and picked up the mallet which oddly didn't disappear when Enaka let go of it.

Ranma didn't like this. Akane should not be gleeful about killing. What the heck was he thinking when he offered this? The mallet descended towards Enaka who swerved to the side and kicked out, tossing Akane on her back and causing her to lose the mallet. Enaka picked it up and advanced on her prey. "Time to die, pervert toy." She began her swing, but a katana suddenly cleeved the mallet in two at the handle causing the biggest piece to glance off Akane's head stunning her.

"Defending your pet?" asked Enaka in a harsh voice as she stared from the katana to Ranma who was holding it. It was a simple steel katana with a square plate as a cross guard. Ranma's hands covered what appeared to be a two handed ivory handle.

Ranma sighed. Nothing was ever easy. He embraced the soul of ice to shut his emotions away. As he did, he spared one final glance to the blue haired girl before turning back to Enaka. He would not let her kill, at least not this way. The blade of the katana took on a silver white glow as he advanced on Enaka who stepped back warily. Akane's head moved and she turned to face the scene as Ranma brought the katana down through Enaka's head and out the side of her body. The body exploded into shards of light that pushed Ranma back about twenty feet causing him to lose his footing and slide into Akane. The two of them together slid several more feet. Akane's yell of pain caused Ranma to roll to his side and to remove his weight from her.

It was then the soul of ice broke and he realized that his half formed plan of erasing her memories was not going to work. She saw him kill her, and that kind of memory left too vivid an impression to erase easily, without far reaching consequences. Akane sat up and turned to him. "You said you would let me finish it!"

"I'm sorry." and he truly did sound sorry, but then he was less certain if he really regretted his actions or perhaps that events had ever conspired to bring them to this point. "You didn't need that burden. Don't worry. It is over." He looked over at her accusing eyes and wilted. "I'll go now. This is like a dream to you now, but now, at least, you will wake from the dream, when your body is ready."

Ranma faded from view leaving Akane alone in darkness, yet, she realized, it wasn't dark anymore. There was a dawn on the horizon that was beginning to cast shadows at the foot of the trees. The light first touched the foot of the tree near the stream where she had slept so often. Was it her imagination or was the stream fuller and running faster? Still, sleep called to her and she half walked, and half crawled over to her little spot by her favorite now sun warmed tree and was soon fast asleep.

* * *

Ranma awoke and felt terrible. Not only was there the chance that Akane might hate her, or worse, never trust her now, but she felt like she had been in a battle with Ryoga and Happosai as opponents that she had lost, plus she had ran a sword through someone she cared a great deal apart. Well maybe it wasn't really her, but it still hurt. She knew she would add that image to her nightmares and somehow it seemed just. She took notice of the sweat that soaked her clothing, particularly the parts that almost seem to burn with heat from Akane's body. 

Nabiki saw the movement and said the first thing that came to mind, "What the heck? My sister doesn't have blue hair!"

Ranma glanced down and saw that it did indeed change to match the Akane she had last seen in hew own mental landscape. A quick pass of her weakened senses seemed to indicate that everything else was normal. She pulled herself out from behind Akane. That was perhaps a bit too comfortable for her own good, sweat and all. "She is okay."

Ranma's words seemed tired to Nabiki. Ranma glanced down to the floor to near where she was and saw the pizza and started to drool faintly. Suddenly revived by the thought of food, she jumped the short distance and dug in with the usual Saotome gusto.

"Hey, save some for Akane!" She looked down only to see that she had consumed an entire pizza by herself. Fortunately there was still a few pieces left from the other. "Sorry, I was hungry."

Nabiki rolled her eyes, but they sharpened almost right away. "What happened in there? Why the heck is my sister's hair blue? I mean sure it had slight blue highlights before, but its Sailor Mercury blue now." She seemed puzzled and, if he was interpreting her tone correctly, a little envious.

Ranma looked up at her and couldn't quite figure out any reason for her to be jealous. Still the blue hair was a bit exotic. "As to the hair, I really don't know. She thought of herself with blue hair in there. Perhaps she wanted to be like that anime character. Who can say? I don't even know for sure if it will last." Ranma got up and began to fill one of the little hotel paper cups with water to wash down her pizza. A glance in the mirror revealed her gender. She winced. She didn't mind her curse as much as she used to, but to forget which body she was wearing was unsettling. She drank down the water and refilled the cup with hot splashing herself to restore her birth gender.

Nabiki waited impatiently for Ranma to do his little routine. In truth, she always seemed fascinated by the change and usually didn't miss an opportunity to watch it. He turned back and Nabiki took that as her cue. "Oh no you don't. You forgot to answer the first question. I stuck my neck out for you and sis, and now I may have Shampoo after me, so your going to tell me what happened and don't leave out any details!"

Ranma had almost forgotten about the Shampoo incident. For lack of a better plan, and because, well, she was right, he told her. She took it well, right up until the end, betraying nothing of what she thought of it all, when out of the blue he was caught surprised by a full armed slap that threatened to dislodge some teeth. "What did you do that for?"

"You know what I did that for. Good grief. You knew what you had to do. Mother told you what you had to do. Heck even your grandmother told you, and even then you made Akane face what she shouldn't of had to, and for what, so you could avoid your responsibility? Grow a spine. You don't always have to wait for do or die situations to act. Akane almost died at that Saffron mess from what you told me, and why was that? It was because you held back until your hand was forced. You held back training Akane. You held back going after the people that took her and even now you held back until you were forced to act. Just stop it. Sometimes you have to act, and if you keep waiting till the last moment, you may find yourself too dang late the next time." Each of the last words were punctuated with a finger into his chest. Somehow they hurt more than any of Akane or his Father's insults.

"There is one thing I don't understand Saotome."

"Yes, Nabiki?"

"The way you described this fake Akane actions didn't sound really like how she has been. Sure she was irrational, and how she avoided figuring out P-chan was nothing short of astounding, but it seemed..." She reached for words, only to be interrupted.

Ranma dimly noted that she neglected to mention her own failure to figure it out, but then he was hardly doing stellar in the observation department either. "Worse? I have been thinking of that. There never really was another spirit in her body, well at least not a complete one, although towards the end it was close. I think Akane's true spirit shown through a little normally."

"You think? You mean you aren't sure. You don't seem sure about a great many things Saotome." The last was said in a biting tone, yet there was an uncertainty to it that softened the words.

"No, I'm not." Ranma's words seemed to fall off as he considered the future. Things were little better really. Well, some things were a little better, but then there was the issue now with Shampoo and Nabiki possibly, not to mention that now that he understood the scope, some of the scope anyway, of the chaos in his life it almost seemed impossible to ever straighten out. Heck, he rather suspected that his and Akane's relationship had not even taken a step forward, perhaps sideways, but certainly not forward. Then again, perhaps he could get to know the real her again. The her that he was beginning to like before all that mess with the Chinese mind control magic and the parade of fiancees that finally tracked him down. Nabiki was an interesting puzzle though. He didn't understand her at all, but then, he realized, he didn't understand any woman.

Akane yawned weakly, trying to crawl through the haze that separates sleep from wakefulness. Something was different now, something... I'm freee! She forced her eyes open and flipped much faster than her body was willing to move causing her to flop back down again. She fought off a bought of dizziness and got up again before turning to Ranma and Nabiki who were sitting around what was left of a pizza.. "Ranma? Neesan?"

"Welcome back sis. Nice hair."

Akane reached up and pulled a strand of hair in front of her face. Blue hair, like in there. Am I still there? Panic began to form in her facial expressions as she pulled another bunch of hair in front of her with her other hand.

Ranma panicked slightly at seeing Akane's reaction before he realized the reason. "You are free Akane. The hair is just a bonus." He tried to say the last part as if she had won the lottery but it sounded less than certain to the two women.

"Like Saotome said, your fine now. Come on, you know me, would I lie?" Nabiki smiled and did her best I'm innocent face. Seeing that wasn't working, she continued with, "Besides the hair looks good on you."

Akane blew a breath out into her hair. She then got up and walked over to the large mirror and combed her fingers through her hair. A smile brightened her features as she posed, temporarily forgetting Ranma and her sister.

Ranma smiled. Nabiki turned to glance at the pigtailed wonder, and then back at her sister, "I'm sure Ranma-kun will love seeing you in that Sailor Mercury costume in your closet."

Akane's face immediately went scarlet. Her strategy of not turning around, so no one would see it, was a little less than successful due to the fact that she was standing in front of a mirror. Nabiki glanced at Ranma to see a mirth filled smile. Well, she hadn't really expected him to look disgusted at the prospect, but at least he wasn't salivating.

"Nabiki! There is no way I'm wearing that. It is five years old. It wouldn't fit anymore."

Ranma's eyes bugged slightly at the mental image. Nabiki snickered. "Oh, but I'm sure Ranma-kun would like it. Don't you think so Ranma-kun?"

Ranma began to stare at the pizza as if it was the most important, or perhaps safest location in the room.

"Bakas!" Akane grabbed the pillow from where she was sleeping and proceeded to whack them both upside the head. This, had the unfortunate side effect of triggering Ranma's competitive instincts and he grabbed the other pillow, with Nabiki having to grab one from the other bed. The only casualties were all four pillows although the remaining pizza did get severely endangered once.

Fortunately, Ranma's food preservation instincts caused him to protect it with his body which allowed both sisters to get in solid hits. Akane's second hit cleared him from the area of protection. Since this also destroyed the last pillow, she decided to sit down and grab a piece.

"Well now that everything is back to normal, how the heck are we going to explain this mess?" quipped the brown haired Tendo.

"Why tell them anything? I went cat and didn't recover till this morning and made my way home. Akane..." He starred at Akane and tried to figure out how to continue.

"I used a magical hair brush at that old store Kuno found the phoenix egg in and my hair turned blue. I dropped it though and the brush broke afterward."

Nabiki quired an eyebrow at her little sister.

"You don't have to look at me like that. I had a lot of time to think in there..." She got quiet then for a moment before continuing. "Is it so strange that I might think of an excuse to explain my hair if I were ever..." She trailed off. The others wondered what other plans she had made in that place.

Nabiki silently vowed to try to help her, well as long as doing so didn't affect her own goals too much anyway. Now she just had to figure out what those goals were. She glanced over at Ranma again. He was not looking at either of them, and seemed to himself be lost in thought. Somehow that irritated her. "Well little sis, tonight Ranma gets to give us our first real martial arts lessons since dad became a crybaby." The last was said in a somewhat bitter tone, as Ranma and Akane's head swung to her.

Ranma opened his mouth, and then immediately closed it, and then opened it and said "Huh?"

"But of course Ranma-kun. Even if I can diffuse this Shampoo mess, just being associated with you is dangerous, and your not going to let Akane face all your crap defenseless are you?"

"Hey! I'll have you know that-"

Akane was cut off as Nabiki said in a sarcastic voice, "Your skills are more or less what they were when Ranma arrived and now everyone else can punch through concrete."

Ranma appeared to be trying to trying to blend into the scenery. Akane swallowed and banged the side of her fist into the floor, although fortunately it wasn't hard enough to damage it. She said, "Fine, tonight he teaches, and if he says any of his father's crap about women and the art..." Her features took on a sinister tone.. "I'll cook us dinner..."

Ranma went white as a ghost. "Um, teach, sure, whatever you want, I'll be glad to..." He looked forlornly at where Akane put down the crust from the last piece of pizza as Nabiki's silvery laughter filled the room. When it cleared she said, "I thought the bad cooking was mostly your evil twin."

Akane smiled. "Cooking is like the art. I'm sure my body will remember." And with that, Ranma lost the battle with consciousness and Akane's smile widened.

"You really shouldn't tease your fiancé."

"Why ever not?"

"Point."

"About this fiancéthing..."

"Relax, Ranma doesn't know what he wants either, although I'm pretty sure it is not Ukyo or the Amazon."

Akane nodded.

A knock came at the door to which Nabiki opened, although she failed to hide the mess from the pillows. The manager pushed past her and looked around. "I've had complaints. The pillows will add another 15000 yen to your bill. Go pay it and get out."

Nabiki sighed. It seemed it was time to go.

* * *

In another place sat around a pair of of attractive women staring at the holographic image of the scene just unfolding. "It seems it worked out after all Kimiko." 

"Yes, it did, but the story is not over yet. Your grandchild yet retains what I taught and the powers that be may yet look for an excuse to purge him of it. He has as many suitors as ever. He may even have one more if the looks my middle daughter gave him are any indication and it looks like the Amazon may be losing patience."

"Yes, things are back to normal aren't they?"

Kimiko chuckled and nodded.

* * *

The room was pink. It had no windows and the only door was locked. They were mocking him. He was sure of that. He just knew, all of the dolls were jeering and laughing at the pink ribboned pig as he searched in vain for a way out of this nightmare. 

A lovely green and blue parakeet tracked the pigs motion from her large cage. "He's over there!"

P'chan jumped and ran underneath the desk, while the parakeet could be heard softly laughing. The Parakeet thought that finally her time as "Charlotte" was over, and she could relax, eat good food, and torment the new Charlotte, while trying very hard not to attack Asuza's attention again.

"Ranma, this is all your fault!" thought the little pig as he squeaked out his rage.

* * *

Author's Notes: I've had this last chapter for quite some time, but just hadn't gotten around to editing it. I've thought about it a bit, and I think this is the end of this story for the foreseeable future. A corner has been turned. One problem is solved, yet many more remain, and even a new one or two, but isn't that the way Ranma 1/2 goes? Sorry for those looking for a matchup. I just didn't feel the story evolved to that point. Let me know what you think.

* * *


End file.
